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Around South America 
With a Sample Case 



BY 
J. FRANK LANNING 



Richmond, Va. 

Williams Printing Co. 

publishers 









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Copyright 1920 

BY 

J. Frank Lanning 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 



INTRODUCTION. 

Two days out from New York, on a Ward Line 
Steamer, bound for Havana, some years ago, one 
of the lady passengers came to me and said : "This 
is my first ocean trip and I am looking for 'thrills.' 
Will I have any before getting back home, do you 
think?" Being- anxious to please the ladies at all 
times I promised to see what could be done for 
her. Ten days later I helped her escape from a 
wrecked ship in the midst of a stormy sea, and she 
seemed to think the effort overdone. 

I left New York hoping for adventures worth 
telling about and g'ot crowded a bit. There was 
a prospect of going to the summit of the Corderil- 
los, but not coining down in a hand car. A bit of 
rough weather was certain but did not count on 
bucking the greatest storm ever experienced on the 
Pacific Coast, and that too in a ship of only one 
thousand tons register. It was also necessary for 
me to get on intimate terms with cattle and sheep 
in order to secure data on these important South 
American industries, but I surely got a jolt when in- 
formed I had become infected with anthrax. On 
more than one occasion friends have called me a 
"blooming goat," but did not consider myself close 
enough akin to the Animal Kingdom to get their 
disease. Coming safely through these events add 
interest to the story, which is dedicated to the 
dear friends whose good wishes went with me, 



8 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

and the equally dear friends who gathered about 
me at every stage of the journey, always ready to 
turn aside from their personal affairs to render 
helpful service, chief among whom is the wonder- 
ful woman whose self-sacrificing devotion saved 
me from death, and nursed me back to health. And 
if these, my friends, read this book with half the 
pleasure felt in writing it for them, my labor of 
love will be repaid. 

THE AUTHOR. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

Around South America With a 
Sample Case 



OFF FOR PANAMA. 

CHAPTER I. 

"Life, how much more 

Shall thy tides compel me 

From the calm shore? 

Down the far ways of the winds 

And the deeps impell me? 

I hear thy song, 

Not as landsmen sing it! 

Mine be the long 

Roll of sea-drums, and the song 

As the thunders sing it." 

A day like a day in June, a farewell lunch at 
White's with Mr. Foster ; his good company to the 
dock, and, later another party of dear friends 
reached the pier to bid me a tender farewell, the 
memory of which will linger until they welcome me 
on my return. We cast off at six o'clock and head- 
ed down the bay, bidding good-bye to the familiar 
landmarks along the way. As the twilight came 
on the city's fantastic skyline was draped in a 
filmy sheen of palest pink and purple, and made of 
it a thing of beauty. 



10 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

We passed close by the Statue of Liberty and it 
never meant so much to me before, although I 
have sailed past it many times, but tonight it seem- 
ed to radiate the spirit of freedom, and, to judge 
from recent results, it must have had the same ef- 
fect on the boys, who, in passing it en route for 
France, pledged their precious lives to maintain 
forever that for which it stands, and right royally 
did they redeem their pledge ; bless their gallant 
hearts ! It was nearly dark when we passed the 
Narrows, and soon the light on the "highland" 
sent out its friendly signal to warn and to wel- 
come. A few hours later the glare of Atlantic City's 
board-walk illumination lit up the sky with a 
cheerful glow. There will be weeks and months 
of sunshine and storm and strange adventures for 
me before these familiar lights gladden my ey\s 
again, as I am booked for a long journey, and will 
visit lands where the mysteries of past ages still 
linger with clearer imprint than elsewhere in the 
western world. 

The second night out Captain ,Hudgins Invited 
me to his. cabin where I met his charming wife, 
and, together, they made the balance of the vovage 
all too short. Captain Hudgins has had a most in- 
teresting career, and I was able to induce him to 
tell me some of his experiences. In exchanging 
reminiscenes of the sea, I learned he was second 
officer on the "Dom Pedro II" out of Baltimore, 
and she was in the harbor of Rio when I sailed 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 11 

from there on the Old Hartford so long ago that 
neither of us cared to count the years. It is in- 
teresting to know Captain Hudgins has the distinc- 
tion of commanding the first ship that passed 
through the Panama Canal when it was opened. 
When war was declared, he promptly applied for 
a naval berth for which he was so well fitted, but 
got the same answer from the Navy Department 
that shattered my hopes, but he could not be 
side-tracked, and, by heroic effort, succeeded in get- 
ting a commission as captain in the Engineer 
Corps, where he rendered very valuable service 
until the armistice was signed. A chap like this 
is well worth knowing, and he won my admiration 
by his modesty and efficiency. His accuracy in 
navigation was positively uncanny. I was in his 
cabin the third night out and telling him of a clever 
piece of navigation by Captain Foss of the N. Y. 
& P. R. Liner "Brazos" last year when she picked 
up the distress call from the "Iroquois." The help- 
less craft was 186 miles distant when the call came, 
and when we laid our course for her Captain Foss 
told me we would "pick her up" at four bells in the 
mid watch (2 A. M.) There was a thick haze over 
the western sky line when I joined the lookout at 
1 :30, but in ten minutes we saw the "Iroquois" 
lights almost ahead. Just as four bells struck, 
the engines on the "Brazos" stopped and the ships 
were within three hundred yards of each other. 
When I finished the story Captain Hudgins ssid 



12 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

"Yes ; one can be rather accurate in these calcula- 
tions ; as, for instance, we will pick up Wattling 
Island light two points off the starboard bow in 
five minutes." I was anxious to verify this claim 
from the bridge, but Mrs. Hudgins had taken up 
the conversation so I remained seated. In precise- 
ly four and one-half minutes the officer in charge 
of .the bridg-e came to the cabin and reported 
Wattling Island Light, giving the direction in de- 
grees. I expected to note a well-satisfied expres- 
sion on the captain's countenance, but he seemed 
a bit disgruntled because he had missed the time 
by one-half minute, and the direction by one sixty- 
fourth of a degree. This same performance was 
pulled off the next night. The captain and I were 
on the bridge, and, taking out his watch he said, 
"we will see Cassoway light in eight minutes." In 
exactly eight minutes the lookout reported a light 
but it was at least two points off. The captain 
remained quiet and I fancied him seeking in his 
mind to locate the current that had carried him even 
so little out of his course. Just then another light 
was reported ; this time in the right direction, and 
it proved to be Cassoway, and the other a freighter 
homeward bound. So I lift my seaman's cap to the 
Master. 

The next day we passed in sight of Nipi Bay 
and the purple mountains of Cuba Orienti. Here 
we changed our course and headed for Colon, with 
the blue waters of the Caribbean before us. Un- 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 13 

fortunately a dense haze overcast the sky. so we 
were denied a view of Hayti and San Domingo, 
which, otherwise, would have loomed high within 
our vision. No land was sighted until Sunday at 
noon, but then the mountains of Columbia begun 
to separate from the low-lying clouds and gradual- 
ly shaped themselves into a massive range. 

At four o'clock in the afternoon the clouds lift- 
ed and Cape Manzanillo thrust its splendid front 
into the blue waters and the cluster of houses mark- 
ing the town of Porto Bello was plainly seen. Im- 
mediately visions of Bluebeard, Blackbeard, Mor- 
gan, Drake and all the buccaneers came into the 
mental vision for this was the one spot where they 
foregathered and fought many a bloody battle. 

It was in one of the harbors of the Gulf of 
Darien just around the corner of Porto Bello that 
Drake made the first attempt to solve the prob- 
lem of yellow fever, for it was here he ordered his 
only brother's body dissected, and stood by whilst 
it was done, in order to discover the cause of the 
mysterious death that had taken so heavy a toll 
from his ranks. The gruesome task was in vain, 
and the yellow scourge continued its ravages tor 
centuries, but is now almost a thing of the past, 
thanks to Victor Blue and his brave companions 
who risked their lives but not in vain for they 
scotched the yellow jack when the mosquito was 
found to be the sinner that had brought so much 
suffering: and death to the world. 



14 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

It was just off this port Drake made his last 
fight. Sir Frederick Treves tells us "In seven days 
after leaving the Island of Nombre de Dios the 
fleet anchored off Porto Bello. It was the morn- 
ing of January 28th, 1596, Drake had long sunk 
into a state of semi-consciousness. At the dawn of 
this day something- roused him. It may have been 
the tramp of men overhead shortening sail, 
or the rattle of the chain in the hawser pipe as 
the anchor was dropped. He raised himself in 
the cot, a shrunken ghost of a man, and then it 
would seem that there came upon him for the first 
time the knowledge that he was dying. 

But die he would not ! He had fought every foe 
under the canopy of heaven. He would fight death 
too. He sat up ; he called for his clothes, he 
railed ; and mocked at the coming shadow. His 
trembling servant dressed him, sighing to note the 
once great wrists turned to the wrists of a child 
and the sturdy limbs shrivelled to nothing more 
than bones. The master would put on his best 
tunic, his lace collar, his shoulder ribbons and his 
last new sword belt. He would now walk out upon 
the quarter-deck to show his crew that Francis 
Drake was ready to lead them still. One step and 
it was his last. He was lifted back to his bed, and 
there, clad as he would have been on the eve of a 
battle, the great sea captain died. 

He was buried a league out at sea, and on either 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 15 

side of him were sunk one of his own ships and 
the last Spanish prize he had taken. 

It was just such a resting-place as his heart 
would desire and in just such company would he 
wish to be. Landwards stretches the scene of his 
early exploits, for Porto Bello lies here open to the 
tides, while round the cape is the haven of Nom- 
bre de Dios, and the beauty of the spot is unsur- 
passed. It is endless summer here. The hills that 
creep down to the beach are as green as the hills 
of Devon. The sea is an iris-blue, and when the 
wind is still there is never a sound to be heard but 
that of surf breaking on the reefs. The great 
warrior may rest quietly when the sea is calm 
but when a storm sweeps over his resting place 
his spirit must awaken for he was happy only when 
in the midst of storm and strife. 

We were almost at the breakwater when I pull- 
ed myself back to the present day and in a few 
minutes the port officers came on board. Every- 
one was herded in the cabin for quarantine inspec- 
tion, and, for some unaccountable reason, my name 
was at the bottom of the list, which resulted in 
being kept a prisoner until we were alongside the 
dock. This prevented me from seeing the approach 
to the great breakwater that had caused the 
government so much trouble and expense. The 
customs passed us quickly, and a regular "down 
home darky" loaded me into his still more "down 
home" outfit and carried me to the Washington 



16 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

Hotel. The whole outfit was a duplicate of Old 
George's rig- at Chase City, which I used to patro- 
nize twenty-five years ago, but thank Heaven the 
hotel was not a relic of ancient days. If anything, 
it was extraordinary in its equipment, even for 
these modern days. After dinner I left the hotel 
on a voyage of discovery and soon found myself 
in what proved to be the native quarter of Colon. 
I had not gone far before my attention was drawn 
to what was unmistakably a Salvation Army meet- 
ing. Following the lead, I was soon outside the 
Barracks. Just as I reached the door I heard the 
preacher say, "I am the resurrection and the life. 
He that believeth on me though he were dead, yet 
shall he live again." I have heard great preachers 
give out this text but never have I known them to 
carry such power and conviction. He repeated 
the text and then preached a sermon that for pure 
religious fervor has seldom, if ever, been equalled 
in my hearing. He was evidently a Jamaican 
negro, for his voice was musical and his spoken 
words even more so. He made no effort to play 
upon the emotions of his hearers ; although they 
were all negroes except myself, but talked to them 
in well-chosen language, telling them about the 
Christ, and through Him the hope for peace in 
their hearts here and hereafter, life eternal. There 
was no likeness between this service and a like 
meeting in our Southland. It was only when the 
sermon was ended and a song begun that charac- 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 17 

teristics of the race were in evidence. Then the 
wild cadence of the black man's music rang true, 
and for a moment I imagined myself in Georgia 
instead of on the Canal Zone. I left them chanting 
"Over the Line" and had gone but a short distance 
when the weird music of the African "Tom-Tom" 
literally throbbed in my ears. I could scarcely be- 
lieve I had heard aright, but only walked a short 
distance when I came upon a group that seemed 
strangely savage. Had it been the moon instead 
of an arc lamp lighting the scene it would have 
been a picture of the upper Congo. Seated on 
boxes were two coal black men making the drums 
tell of witches and voo-doo, making an anthem 
well calculated to inspire the ring of hearers group- 
ed around them with visions of days when music 
like this preceeded the feast furnished by dead 
foes. In a moment a man and woman stepped into 
the circle and executed the weirdest dance I have 
ever witnessed. Within an hour I had seen the 
savage rights of a primitive people and a service 
of true worship, and that by the same race of peo- 
ple. If it were not for the modern romance of the 
canal and the old romance of the bucaneers, Colon 
and vicinity would be a most uninteresting place, 
but when one remembers that some of the wildest 
scenes of piracy and bloodshed ever enacted were 
pulled off in these waters, then mountains and in- 
lets become alive with epics of other days. Days 
when Drake and Morgan harried every settlement 



18 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

! 

along the coast, levying tribute from both priest 
and publican, and decorating nearby trees with 
victims of their murderous lust when the loot fell 
short of the expectations. 

There was nothing here in the way of business, 
so last evening I left Colon by rail and came over 
to Panama. Today I visited the plant of the Canal 
Zone at Balboa, and have seen what is perhaps the 
most complete machine shop on earth. It is a 
revelation to anyone who knows the value of com- 
plete equipment. The officials extended every 
courtesy, and indicated the possibility of great 
trade in case we can get started with our products, 
for much belt and babbitt metal is used here yearly. 
Returning to Panama I learned that our chances, 
of doing business with the Panamanians, for the 
time being at least, is absolutely nil, owing to the 
stupid blunder of our commanding officer on the 
Zone. He issued his famous order No. 26 forbid- 
ding officers and men of the army and navy from 
leaving the Zone and. in support of this un- 
holy order, wrote the authorities at Washington 
saying that official investigation of the women 
found on Avenida Central (the main street in 
Panama) showed that ninety-seven per cent were 
immoral. All of which, according to a letter over 
the signature of the Governor of Panama in this 
morning's paper, was published in the Congress- 
ional Record in all its brutal untruth. I sent the 
paper with a letter to Mr. John Barrett asking him 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 19 

to do his best to let the people of America know 
that General Blatchford's statement was both false 
and silly. Just at this time, and I fear for .some 
time to come, an American could not sell gold dol- 
lars for fifty cents to these people ; and if this sort 
of thing should occur often we who hope to open 
up the Latin American trade to our country will 
simply waste our time and money. General Blatch- 
ford has been ordered home, and I hope the War 
Department send him to Wolfville, Ariz. Incident- 
ly, it would please me to hear him make a like state- 
ment about the ladies of the aforesaid town. En- 
right and Doc. Peets would see that due respect 
was paid to the dead out there, but when the news 
reached Panama there would be no flags at half- 
mast. I have now been here several days, and have 
spent much time, both day and night on the street. 
I found absolutely no serious evidence of lewd- 
ness. In fact, compared with upper Broadway, 
New York, and Market Street, Philadelphia, Aven- 
ida Central presented a modest face. 

I left the Tivola immediately after dinner last 
night, and walked to the Plaza Independencia and 
back. The street was thronged with people of 
every class, and I walked slowly with eyes open 
for any irregularity, but the only infraction of the 
moral law seen throughout the trip was seventeen 
lottery venders within one short city block, but 
they did not seem to be spreading calamity very 
rapidly, for I stood and eyed the bunch for ten full 



20 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

minutes and did not see a sale made. So I am 
inclined to think General Blatchford sees things 
within rather than without, for, verily, "as a man 
thinketh in his heart so is he," according to Holy 
writ. 

I am tempted to write something about this 
beautiful place, but the subject has been exhausted 
by abler pens and I shall limit myself to the state- 
ment that Panama, Ancon and Balboa represent 
perfect cleanliness and order. A party of us drove 
out to see the ruins of Old Panama and I have never 
looked upon ruins marking greater desolation. 
This is perhaps more oppressive because we read 
that once this same city rivaled Venice in her 
splendor, and the slave market equalled that of 
Rome in the days of the Caesars. There is massive 
masonry everywhere and the old avenues can still 
be traced, but none of this masonry has definite 
form except the square tower of the cathedral. This 
successfully withstood the destructive onslaught of 
Morgan's men and the centuries have not loosened 
a brick since that event. It was here Pizarro made 
his vows to the Virgin on his way to conquer Peru 
and Morgan outraged the bishop by stealing his 
sword of state, leaving in its place his battered 
blood-stained weapon, which was presented to Col. 
Shanton by the city of Panama as a token of their 
appreciation of his work during the construction of 
the canal. 

It is difficult to think of old Panama as a one- 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 21 

time harbor rilled with gold ladened galleons, for 
today it presents a scene of utter desolation with 
not even a bark canoe to disturb its surface. The 
only visible sign of life was a lone pelican, and he 
was winging his way up coast making all speed 
that could be gotten out of his lumbering flight. 

I returned to my hotel with a sense of mental 
depression difficult to explain unless it was that 
death still broods over the lonely place where such 
awful deeds were done. 

A perfect deluge of rain almost flooded the place 
when we left Panama for Colon, and a less attrac- 
tive fifty miles of railroad does not exist on earth. 
The entire distance is one stretch of desolation 
which culminates in the utter ghastlinesss of Gatun 
Lake. Here trees were left standing when the back 
waters covered the land. They are now g*hostly 
white surrounded by black waters, in which one 
would expect to find all the vile things which in- 
habit the deep. The trip was bad enough when 
made in a well-equipped railroad coach, but fancy 
having to plod through the red clay mire with 
poisonous snakes underfoot and disease-infested 
mosquitoes all about as the forty-niners did. Or 
go back to the old gold road days when guarded 
pack trains started on their perilous journey from 
Panama to Nombre de Dios. These caravans were 
beset by all these evil forces of nature with a band 
of murderous Indians or still more blood-thirsty 
pirates thrown in as a side issue. Surely nothing 



22 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

short of this lure of gold could ever induce men to 
face such suffering and danger. Treves speaks of 
this famous gold road as follows : 

"It was a precious burden these mule trains bore. 
It was the harvest of robbery and murder, the 
sheaves reaped by treachery and torture, a devil's 
crop. Every grain of gold came from a crucible 
whose furnace was fed with human lives. Every 
load bore some contribution from wretches who 
had been either worked to death or beaten to death. 
It was an argosy of cruelty and greed. Costly as 
it was, none seem to have been made the richer by 
all the wealth that came by this pitiless way." 

Thanks to the courtesy of Mr. Grubbs, a dis- 
patcher in the office of the captain of the port, 
I was able to visit the Gatun locks under most 
favorable conditions. He called for me at the hotel, 
and I had dinner at his home where I met his 
charming wife and kiddie. We returned to the 
hotel at two o'clock where we were joined by Mr. 
Barnum, chief engineer of the Carib Syndicate. 
The port captain's launch was at our disposal 
and we were soon plowing our way through the 
water of the lower bay, reaching the canal en- 
trance in twenty-five minutes. Overhead, sea- 
planes were circling and sailing, and making my 
heart sick with a desire to be in one of them. Mr. 
Grubbs, being one of the force, insured every 
courtesy from the lock officials, and the workings 
of the mighty elevator were shown and explained 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 23 

in detail. First we walked for nearly a mile 
through a tunnel running the full length of the 
locks, and were permitted to see the mechanism of 
the system. There were enormous pistons control- 
ling the machinery, and baffle chains with links' 
strong enough to almost lift a ship. Giant valves, 
monster geared wheels and ponderous arms of steel 
which opened and shut the still more ponderous 
gates. Seen in detail, it represents one of the 
greatest engineering feats of the age. However 
elaborate the description might be it would fail 
to convey an idea of its immensity. Leaving the 
tunnel we climbed the winding stairway to the 
upper room in the lock house. There we saw, in 
miniature, all we had seen below. In fact the en- 
tire system is there in minute detail. A ship was 
passing through at the time, and we watched the 
operator move an insignificant little brass handle. 
The tiny gates in the model began to slowly shut. 
When the joint was tight another handle was shift- 
ed and we could hear the rush of waters passing 
out, and see it fall, carrying the ship to the level 
below. Again the baby gates slowly opened and 
the ship was taken in tow by electric motors and 
carried into the second lock. Once more the 
gates close, again the rush of waters is heard, and 
the third drop carries the ship to sea level. The 
lake level is eighty-five feet above, but small ves- 
sels are let down or carried up in thirty seven minu- 
tes. Large ships are handled in an hour. 



24 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

We watched four ships pass through and then 
walked over to the "spillway." Here we were able, 
in a measure, to mentally grasp the magnitude of 
the work. The actual dam is nearly two miles long, 
and eighty-five feet high. The fourteen-gate spill- 
way is about half way between the canal and hill- 
side, at the far end. The hydro-electric plant is 
located in the gorge below the spillway developing 
13,500 H. P. Concrete bases for two more 4500 
H. P. dynamos are about complete. When these 
are installed they can meet the demand for light 
and power for years to come. I looked longingly 
at the sweep of concrete, with the steel and con- 
crete bafflers at the base. The lock superintendent 
told me the w r ater was extremely low in the 
lake, and he did not think I could get a gate open- 
ed, but I assumed a pathetic expression, and, in a 
voice equally pathetic, expressed my regret that I 
could not see the results of an overflow. Evident- 
ly the engineer was a good Indian and had a kind 
heart, for he excused himself, saying he would call 
up the hydrographic office and ask permission to 
open one of the gates. In a few minutes he re- 
turned saying, "Get up on top and see the show." 
We lost no time getting on top, and as we reach- 
ed the bridge the deluge started. The slope is beau- 
tifully curved, and at first it presented an attrac- 
tive "shoot the chute" proposition with its smooth 
surface, but as the volume increased and swept 
down against the great blocks of concrete, then did 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE ZO 

all hades break loose. I always thought the whirl- 
pool below Niagara Falls stirred things up a bit, but 
compared to the turmoil at the Gatun spillway, 
even with one gate open, Niagara Falls is only a 
modest ripple that would fade into utter insignifi- 
cance if all the gates were open. There were times 
when a seemingly solid column of water was lift- 
ed fifty feet and fell with a roar of mighty thunder. 
If this pyramid could be illuminated with colored 
lights, it would justify a trip around the world to 
see. The place was so fascinating we did not start 
back to Colon until the sun had gone down, and 
it was 10:30 P. M. before we finished dinner. 

Bannon proved to be a regular Richard Harding- 
Davis character and the dinner hour was but little 
less fascinating than our afternoon had been. He 
told us briefly of a six-hundred mile mule-back trip 
across Columbia to the Pacific coast. On this trip 
he came across a tribe of Indians that had only heard 
tales of white men, but had never seen one. Ban- 
non is a husky guy, and very presentable, and the 
result was he nearly lost his freedom and got sad- 
dled with forty wives. The interpreter told him 
the chief was anxious to introduce blue eyes into 
his tribe, in that he felt sure he could sell the chil- 
dren for at least fifty per cent advance over the 
ruling market quotations. There were many tra- 
gic scenes also. He graphically described the death 
of one of their men, and their heroic work that kept 
him alive until they reached the coast, but it was 



26 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

too late to save him. It seemed like a shame to go 
to bed when we had such a chap to talk with, but 
even owls must sleep, so I bade him good-night at 
one A. M. Tomorrow he starts back to the jungle, 
and I begin my journey to the land of Inca. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 27 

THE PATHWAY OF PIZARRO. 

CHAPTER II. 

"How are you going down the coast, P. C. or E.," 
which being translated means ; Peruvian, Chilian or 
English. This was asked on all sides and if Eng- 
lish was suggested the fact was made plain that 
"service on the English ships was simply rank", 
with statements even more disturbing, if the pos- 
sibility of using one of the other lines was sug- 
gested, so I booked passage on all three, and sought 
an equation ; but reports were so conflicting I final- 
ly gave it up, and placed hyself at the mercy of 
my good friends, the Panama agencies, and they 
booked me on the Chilian S. S. Aysen. I had learn- 
ed my lesson, and quit discussing the matter, for 
had I told people I was sailing on the Chilian ship 
their hands would have gone up to express horror, 
and I would have been convinced that roaches four 
inches long would nightly feast on my silk suit and 
bath slippers ; that fleas the size of June bugs fore- 
gathered under the sheets for a nightly campaign, 
and that scouts stayed with the victims all day in 
order to locate and report the tender sections to 
their companions for the night raid. I came on 
board in fear and trembling, being born with an 
intuitive hatred for roaches, and with no kindly 



28 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

regard for fleas. Well, we are two days out, and 
my suit and slippers are still intact. And if there 
is a flea on board it is being taken care of on the 
deck below. There has not been a movement made 
on this deck to indicate the presence of even a 
fleaette. 

I was put in a cabin with another chap, but we 
found the purser was anxious to buy a Liberty 
Bond (Covert said a lottery ticket) and by con- 
tributing a pound sterling to that laudable, or 
otherwise, end, we each got a cabin de luxe. I have 
never had a better cabin, nor sailed on a cleaner 
ship. It is true that they are short on linen ; both 
towels and napkins are being "conserved" until 
it has become painful, but the big cabin, "solo", 
will more than offset the linen shortage. The 
limited breakfast bothers me some, for tough toast, 
chemically compounded jam, with questionable 
coffee decorated with milk from a tin can does not 
rank very high in my estimation, but they do have 
the decency not to call it breakfast ; they announce, 
"early coffee" and let it go at that. At 11 o'clock the 
bell rings for "almuerzo" and this a Spanish word 
we quickly learn to reverence, especially if one is 
an early riser, and the toast is extra tough. This 
so-called breakfast is really a substantial lunch, con- 
sisting of soup, fish, the ever present egg and 
beans. A beanvine rampant and a hen couchant 
should be quartered on the Coat of Arms of every 
Latin American country, for these two products 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 29 

dominate the food situation. At four o'clock tea is 
served, and there is a prompt attendance on the 
call, for dinner is not served until seven. The din- 
ner is an elaboration of lunch, minus the eggs, but 
usually the beans are in evidence in some form. 
Fortunately we have no wheezy phonograph to 
torture us, and, up to the present, no infant prodigy 
has sung Tipperary. There are only a few Ameri- 
cans on board, but two or three are rather inter- 
esting. One lady who tells me her husband is 
in copper. She is trying to acquire the art of smok- 
ing. It is an art, and she may acquire it. Another 
interesting study is a little old fat man and his 
bride of perhaps a month, no longer. This is easily 
determined by the expression in their eyes. Every- 
one knows the "too good to be true" giving place 
to an expression indicating mental reservations 
within this time limit. The bride is partial to rather 
short dresses, and she has at least two good rea- 
sons for wearing- them. The first day out she 
showed a passion for running up and down the 
stairway on my side of the deck, but there is noth- 
ing doing today as the old man is determined not 
to let bad men see a pretty ankle. He screened 
her half a dozen times, but, being threatened with 
apoplexy the lady has taken pity on him and they 
are both settled in steamer chairs ; she carefully 
covered, although we are near the Equator. Alas ! 
the selfishness of our fellowman. 

We also have a little English woman, whose face 



30 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

is like a wild rose in its sweetness. She tells me 
her husband fell at the Marne and she is going out 
to Valparaiso to make another try at marriage. 
She is carrying the very breath of Old England 
with her, and is sure to make her loved one both 
homesick and happy. At my table is a typical Ger- 
man in face and name, but he is careful to inform 
people he is from Pittsburgh, and has been a citi- 
zen of that loyal town for the past twenty years. 
He seems a decent fellow, but he is surely handi- 
capped, for people at the table utterly ignore him, 
except Covert, who takes every opportunity to ex- 
press his personal opinion of Germans. These opin- 
ions are more or less picturesque, but absolutely 
unprintable. What a penalty he and his people 
will have to pay for their unholy ambition ! He 
may be, and doubtless is, a loyal citizen of the Unit- 
ed States, but when he is near me I hear the cry 
of a stricken world. The "Father forgive them, 
for they know what they do" has rung down the 
ages without leaving much of an impression, for 
we are inclined to spit out curses when nailed to 
the cross. 

Anyone seeking rest could find it here, for the 
very heart of the ocean beats slowly, and even the 
ships seem to be half asleep. The Pacific is well 
named so far as we have seen it. Not only is the 
sea deadly quiet, but deadly dull ; the color being a 
gun-metal shade instead of the dazzling blue that 
makes the South Atlantic and Carribean sparkling 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 31 

sapphires of purest ray, so beautiful at times, it 
hurts because we cannot crystalize its beauty. 
There was some hope the sunsets might be bril- 
liant for the clouds have been more or less broken, 
giving promise, but even the sun seems subdued 
like the ocean. I have spent some hours hanging- 
over the ship's bow today, but the only sign of life 
was a lonely flying fish, and he seemed in a hurry 
to get back home. Late in the afternoon a school 
of whale sent their fountains aloft, which had we 
been a whale ship, would have brought the wel- 
come "there she blows" and the hurried getting 
away of the boats for the kill. 

Last night the North Star blinked hazily about 
four degrees above the horizon, and I bade it good- 
bye, for I will not see it again until we cross the 
line north-bound from Brazil. But the Great Bear 
with splendid Arcturus are high in the heavens, 
and will keep us company for many days. Four 
times in my life I have watched this friendly and 
familiar constellation drop below the horizon, and 
it is then one feels the remoteness of things and 
the distance from home. We picked up the South- 
ern Cross, and its brilliant companion Canopus with 
its flashing radiance of many colors, and these will 
be our starry companions after we lose Orion and 
our friends of the northern sky. 

We reach our first port of call tomorrow, and 
hope to get on shore, if only for an hour, for it is 
along here Pizarro made his first landing nearly 



32 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

four centuries ago. This morning en route to the 
bathroom I came across a 'Theda Bara" all ready 
to enact the role of Cleopatra, and, just now, a 
vision in diaphanous pink stood for a brief moment 
between me and the boundless sea (I most spell- 
ed that word wrong), resulting- in a vision of three 
separate and distinct sections of skyline. Verily 
the Chinese are wise in constantly referring- to 
their three immortal monkeys, for certainly there 
are times when temporary blindness would help us 
maintain the other virtues. It looks very much as 
if we have a "Vamp" on board, but of course I am 
immune. 

We crossed the equator late last night and the 
chill winds coming down off the snow-clad peaks 
of Equador made it feel like an early autumn night 
in northern New York, rather than an early autumn 
night at the equator, which it happens to be, be- 
cause of the reversal of seasons. This has been a 
heavenly day, with a cool breeze and an almost 
cloudless sky. The setting sun revealed the new 
moon, within what seemed but a stone's throw of 
Venus, and each trying to outshine the other. I 
had to put on an overcoat for my after-dinner 
walk tonight, which reminds me that almost the 
same weather conditions prevailed when we cross- 
ed the line off the West Coast of Africa in 1904, 
but that chill breeze did not come from any snow- 
clad mountains. We are due at Payta in the morn- 
ing, but our stay will be brief, for we have lost 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 33 

nearly a clay. At four o'clock this morning we 
were awakened by the clatter of the anchor chains, 
and came on deck to see the lights of the town 
nearby, but it was dark and I went back to bed. 
Came on deck at seven o'clock to find the ship rid- 
ing at anchor in an open roadway, with no pro- 
tection, and I fancy taking on cargo here in rough 
weather would be a serious task. The "Primrose," 
Covert and I went on shore, the Captain telling us 
we must return within the hour. Well, we did the 
town and had forty minutes to spare. There is 
a plaza about the size of a back yard in the Bronx. 
There are two stunted palm trees here, and they 
are highly prized, being the only green things for 
thirty miles in three directions with the ocean com- 
pleting the square. We are told Pizarro first land- 
ed at Tumbez. Had he made shore at Payta he 
would have gone back to Spain and reported hav- 
ing found the rear entrance to hades. An in- 
vestigation would have confirmed this belief, for 
complete barrenness covers a range of two thous- 
and miles in length and a depth of from forty to 
sixty miles, except where small rivers make their 
way down from the snow-clad mountains, forming 
small, but extremely fertile, valleys, where the 
famous long fibre cotton of Peru grows, along with 
about everything else that comes from the ground. 
I thought the Arabian coast of the Red Sea was 
barren, but compared with this it is a garden of 
roses. We left Payta at 10:30 and ran close to 



34 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

the shore until we rounded "Pta de Agua," and 
were soon at anchor off Salaverry. This we found 
just two shades worse than Payta, for there is 
not even a mesquite bush to be seen here. The 
"city" consists of one small iron pier, one oil tank, 
one goods shed, and two small houses. What an 
exhilarating' time the residents of these houses 
must have during the long hot summer months ! 
A sand-bank runs back for half a mile, ending at 
the base of the mountain peak, rising about 2,500 
feet above sea. Clouds hung low over the land, 
but lifted at times showing similar peaks in the 
distance. We passed to the east of Guanape, one 
of the great guano islands which in the past were 
such sources of wealth to Peru, but, being a pawn 
in the political game, this wealth was rapidly dis- 
sipated by granting concessions in order to secure 
funds for the promotion of the next revolution, 
which, in those days were monthly episodes. Doubt- 
less many of these upheavals were brought about 
by foreign concessionaires when their immediate 
holdings were near exhaustion. Guanape has been 
the home of millions of sea birds for countless ages, 
and tonight great flocks passed us, winging their 
way to their rocky home, and two seals came to the 
surface close enough to the ship for me to see 
their big, beautiful eyes. At one o'clock we came 
in sight of a string of pelican painted islands gleam- 
ing- snow-white in the sun, whilst back of them 
could be seen an irregular shadow outlining the 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 35 

Corderillos, which tower up to five and seven thous- 
and feet along here. All the islands in this vicinity 
are white with guano deposit, and we saw the de- 
positors later in the afternoon, for when I tell you 
I saw millions of birds at one time in one unbroken 
string twelve miles long I mean literally. 

As we approached San Lorenzo we could see the 
cove where Drake used to lie in wait for Spanish 
galleons coming out from Callao laden with their 
ill-gotten, blood-stained gold, and many a wild 
scene of slaughter has been laid in these same wa- 
ters. The island is absolutely barren and pre- 
sents the same physical appearance shown by the 
coast since leaving Payta. The first view one gets 
of Callao gives, one the impression that it is an- 
other Venice, not built on solid land, but rising 
from the sea. We were within one mile before 
anything that looked like earth appeared. We 
dropped anchor here, and although the sea was not 
rough, yet some of the passengers got a clucking 
because of the wild scramble for trade by the 
launch people. 

The W. R. Grace people took me in charge, get- 
ting me through the customs and up to the hotel 
without any worry or delay. The ride from Callao 
to Lima is not in the least attractive. Broken 
adobe walls line the way, and the road is a fright. 
There were fields of ripening corn and other culti- 
vation I am not familiar with. It is only seven 
miles from Callao to Lima and we were installed at 



36 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

the Grand Hotel Maury at six o'clock. Brushing 
up a bit we went to the Exposition building and 
enjoyed the best dinner I have had since leaving 
New York. A fine orchestra entertained, and the 
"Primrose" and I had a dance between the courses. 
After dinner we had a car take us for an hour's ride 
around the moonlit city. I was up early the next 
morning and attended High Mass in the famous 
cathedral where Pizarro is buried. The building- 
is impressive in size and architecture, but. as usual, 
is over-decorated. Gold leaf in profusion, with a 
liberal supply of pink and blue panneling. The 
paintings, however, are more artistic and of much 
higher order than are found in most Central and 
South American countries. As a rule great crimes 
are committed in the name of sacred art, and in- 
flicted upon worshippers. The celebration was very 
elaborate ; the officiating priests being in costly 
robes of red and gold, with eight assistants in pur- 
ple capes. Eleven acolites were kept busy bearing 
the sacred properties and swinging censors. These 
made twenty-two actually engaged in the service 
and there were but seven worshippers in all that 
vast edifice. It reminded me of a visit to the 
Grand Opera in San Juan last month. Othello 
with thirty-two pieces of music in the orchestra 
and thirty odd people on the stage, drew a crowd 
of only twenty-nine persons, all of which indicates 
rather lukewarm religion and indifference to art 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 37 

amongst people whom we are taught to believe are 
highly appreciative of both. 

Two very attractive Peruvian cruisers are an- 
chored nearby, and my friend Smith tells me an 
amusing story in connection with them. Four years 
ago H. M. S. Lancaster put into this port and fired 
the usual salute. The Peruvian flagship fired half 
the prescribed number of guns, then sent over to 
the Lancaster and borrowed enough powder to com- 
plete the salute. 



38 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

A SENSATIONAL RAILROAD JOURNEY. 

CHAPTER III. 

I left Lima last Thursday night, conscious of 
having before me what would be perhaps the most 
wonderful trip I have ever made, and this proved 
to be the case, largely through a chain of fortunate 
circumstances. Mr. Smith had given me letters of 
introduction to the General Manager and General 
Superintendent of the Central R. R. Co., of Peru, 
but> upon presentation, I found the General Mana- 
ger had left town for a week, and the General 
Superintendent was up the road. I expressed my 
regret to Mr. Ottiker, also my disappointment, as 
I had hoped to ride the hind end going up the moun- 
tain ; a privilege only granted from headquarters. 
Mr. Ottiker kindly volunteered to secure this cour- 
tesy, and gave me the proper credentials, which, 
when presented to the conductors, gave me clearly 
to understand everything- would be done to make 
the trip interesting. Mr. Mailer, the representative 
of the Ingersoll-Rand Co., was with Mr. Ottiker, 
and joined me, which gave me delightful compan- 
ionship. We staid at Chosica over night and regret 
we did not get there earlier, for it has the general 
appearance, seen in the moonlight, of being an 
attractive place ; so much so indeed that I have de- 






;MIKfe>> 






: 










AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 39 

cided to go up next Sunday and look it over, and 
will likely have something to say about it later. 
Before we start up the road, let me tell you some- 
thing about it, quoting from a book gotten out by 
the Passenger Department. "Of all railroads in 
the world, the one from Lima to Oroya is 
the most extraordinary. It is still, after its pictures 
have served as stock geography illustrations for a 
generation, probably the most impressive piece of 
railroad engineering- in the world. Built in the days 
when Peru was rich and reckless, it stands a monu- 
ment of that time and to that gifted Soldier of 
Fortune, Henry Meiggs of New York. After a 
wild career, in which fortunes were made and lost 
by him in California, he went broke and had to quit 
the country "pronto ;" leaving debts behind him of 
over a million dollars. Going to Chili he engaged 
in railroad and bridge building*. Although not an 
engineer, he soon amassed another fortune and 
came to Peru. Here he floated $29,000,000 in bonds 
and started to build the Aroyo road in 1869. He did 
not live to see it finished, but he carried it up the 
eyebrows of the Andes from the sea coast to the icy 
galleries of the Cordilleras, and he paid all his 
debts. The Aroya road is not only the highest in 
the world, but there is no other that lifts its breath- 
less passengers to any such altitude in so short a 
time. To climb, as the Aroya climbs, a Hudson 
River train would have to ascend, half an hour 
before it reached Albany, a distance one thousand 



40 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

feet greater than that from sea level to the summit 
of Pikes Peak, and the ascent is made in less than 
ten hours." Which, pause to remark, is some "up- 
ward flight," and now let me start all over again. 
The station building and grounds at Lima are very 
beautiful, and the grounds remind me of the Bea- 
ver Falls-New Brigton station on the P. & L. E. 
R. R., but, of course, the foliage was entirely dif- 
ferent, except plots of colias, which brighten up 
both grounds. Water being available here the trees 
and flowers are kept free from the burden of dust 
which simply smothers everything in Lima, and this 
condition certainly gladdens the eye. Immediately 
back of the station, beyond the net work of tracks, 
a great pyramid-like hill rises, probably 800 feet, 
crowned by a giant cross and wireless outfit, which 
I understand is very powerful, and ships can be 
reached far out at sea. It was not yet dark when 
we left the station and I was permitted to note the 
fields of cotton ready for picking ; fields of corn 
ready for cutting. A garden spot here and there 
with onions and tomatoes as well as other familiar 
vegetables ready for market, and countless patches 
in odd shapes and large fields of utterly barren 
land, but all carefully protected by massive adobe 
walls. What they guard against is beyond me, for 
not even cacti could be seen. The habitations along 
the line were mostly adobe huts. A few were some- 
what pretentious, but all, constructed of adobe, 
which makes it necessary for the inhabitants to 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 41 

pray for "no rain." A week's down-pour would be 
more disastrous to this communit}^ than the Balti- 
more fire was to that city. At Santa Clara, the 
first town out from Lima, a pusher coupled to us, 
and we began the ascent of the grade. Night had 
come on, and I entertained myself with dreaming 
of the days when the valley of the Rimac grew 
corn and cotton for the peaceful and happy Inca, 
who was glad to get a string of g'old nuggets to 
adorn his woman, but a bushel of golden corn was 
far more important to him, and the white cotton 
field was more attractive than was the white gleam 
of silver. 

Not seeing its value as the world saw it, he must 
have been bewildered when he connected it up with 
the toil, the woe, the death and the general destruc- 
tion which marked its acquisition. What a pity 
the greed for gold destroyed a people and a civiliza- 
tion that from best authority could have taught 
their conquerors a valuable lesson ; but their bones 
now mingle with the dust around Lima and Callao 
and so get even, in a measure, by half choking the 
population. At 8:10 in the morning the train pull- 
ed into Chosica, and Mailer and I settled ourselves 
on the rear end of the baggage car and began the 
greatest railroad ride I have ever taken or ever 
expect to take. The valley narrowed immediately 
after leaving Chosica, but we still found small plots 
of ground growing cotton, corn and even tomatoes. 
Between Lima and Callao corn had ripened and was 



42 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

ready to harvest, but here it was just coming up. 
Mailer tells me they have roasting ears the year 
round. The grains are very large and the col) from 
eight to fourteen inches long. There is consider- 
able bird life all along the line to an altitude of six 
thousand feet. The ever present blackbird, with 
his tail on straight, and not cross-wise, as it is on 
his brothers in Porto Rico and Cuba. There are 
also any number of fussy little rascals like our 
swallows. They have the same darting flight and 
evidently feed on flying insects. As late as 10:30 
last night they were flashing about the electric 
lights in front of the station, and they were just 
as busy when the train pulled out this A. M. Per- 
haps they have established an eight hour shift. Be 
that as it may, it is a pity they cannot inspire the 
sleepy natives with some of their energy. We pass- 
ed a small round-house just outside the town of 
Chosica and the ridge pole was lined with the most 
disreputable bunch of birds I have ever beheld. 
They are similar to our buzzards so numerous in 
the south, but these fellows looked as if they had 
been on a bat all night. I have never seen a picture 
of such abject misery. Their heads hung drooping 
either straight down, or to one side, which was 
worse. Their wings hung loose, looking as if half 
the pinions had been pulled out, leaving them rag- 
ged and unsightly. Hereafter when I hear the 
term, "disreputable bird" applied to some poor old 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 43 

soak I will see an hundred of him on the ridge pole 
of the Chosica round-house. 

Just before reaching San Bartholomew we pass- 
ed fields of bananas, and after leaving the town we 
came into the coffee and orange belt. The coffee 
bushes were in blossom and the orange trees laden 
with golden fruit. Ten minutes later, swing- 
ing around an abrupt shoulder of the mountain, we 
found ourselves in the midst of millions of pink, 
blue-and white morning glories in full bloom. See- 
ing them was like a love letter from home, so sweet 
and familiar were their dear faces, although they 
seemed out of place in the neighborhood with tropi- 
cal fruits and plants. A trail goes over the moun- 
tain at San Bartholomew; in steps at places, and 
at times going for a mile or more along the face of 
a precipice. The Seventh Day Adventists left us 
here to take the trip over the mountain, and I cer- 
tainly envied them. This sect is very active here 
and I am told they are doing good work in teach- 
ing the Indians how to keep clean and healthy, as 
well as how to worship. I have always felt the two 
are inseparable, and the Seventh Day Adventists 
should do a good work here. I have met four of 
this sect since coming to Peru, and was most favor- 
ably impressed in each case. 

Thirty minutes after leaving San Bartholomew 
we looked immediately down on it seven hundred 
feet below, and from here we got a good view of 
the trail on the opposite mountain. Three donkeys 



44 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

or llamas were toiling up, but they looked like 
ants crawling up the Woolworth building, so I 
could not tell if they honked or bleated. We soon 
began to run into tunnels at short intervals ; there 
being sixty-eight of them on the road. Some were 
rather lengthy and got mighty thick at times, mak- 
ing the sunlight and pure air very welcome. By 
this time we had bidden good-bye to everything 
that looked like a valley and were looking down on 
the rushing waters of the Rimac, cutting its Wedge 
between the towering walls to which we seemed to 
cling by our eyebrows. Here began the famous 
terraces, built by the Incas, reaching, at places, to 
the very top of the mountain. Many of those 
lower down are green with alfafa and very produc- 
tive, being watered by the aqueducts cut thousands 
of years ago by the former inhabitants. This, by 
the way, is the original "perpendicular farm" for, 
although terraced, the cultivated land is seemingly 
straight up and down. I would like to see a harvest 
hand at work, and bet a dollar he has a rope tied 
to his leg, with the other end attached to a well- 
anchored boulder, for one slip, and he would be like 
the religious painter who slid off the barn roof. It 
would be "Oh Lord have mercy on me, and now 
for a hell of a bump." 

The train stopped at Matucana for lunch, and a 
good one it was. Price seventy-five cents, and the 
same thing in Pittsburgh would have cost two dol- 
lars, and only a millionaire would dare to order 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 45 

anything like it in Lima. It was altogether too 
good, and I ate too much, paying the penalty later, 
as you will learn. Our next important stop was at 
San Mateo, 10,000 feet above sea. There was a 
fiesta in progress at the time, with music and day- 
light firworks. The fireworks came first, and I was 
wondering* if I had gotten into an incipient revolu- 
tion, as this is the season for these events, being 
around election time, but the band began to play 
after the fulsilade and I knew we were all right. 
Inquiry of the brakeman disclosed the fact that 
this town has a curious yearly celebration. There 
are two trails going over the mountains from the 
town, and, as always along these trails in Peru, 
wherever a convenient spot occurs, a shrine is 
erected, consisting of a cross and figure of the 
Christ, and sometimes the cross alone. This is a 
source of considerable revenue to the church as 
there is an alms box attached to each into which 
every llama driver who stops to offer a prayer 
drops a penny, and collections are made regularly. 
Now, whether as a reward for work well done, or 
for the purpose of renewing their efficiency the 
brakeman could not tell me, but anyhow all the 
crosses in the parish are brought down to the 
church, blessed, decorated with flowers, carried in 
parade through the town, and back to their original 
places, prepared to keep lonely vigil and offer con- 
solation to the passers-by for another year. The 
celebration lasts from the second to the fifteenth of 



46 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

May, by which time all the crosses have had all due 
attention. Immediately above the town is the main 
shrine, consisting of a cross that must stand twenty 
feet, for it is very distinct, although a half-mile 
nearer heaven than the town. My informant told 
me it was a week's job for a small army of men to 
fix up that one alone, but others required much less 
time. 

Just after leaving San Mateo we passed an In- 
dian sheep herder, and I would have given ten dol- 
lars for a picture as I saw it. He was perched 
upon a boulder, and had I not been observant I 
would not have seen him, for rock, face, hands, feet 
and poncho were all the same shade of reddish 
brown, and he was as motionless as the rock upon 
which he sat. It was at one of the switch-backs, 
and we were in sight of him for some time, but so 
far as I could make out, he never batted an eye. 
and had I not passed within ten feet of him I would 
doubt the evidence of my senses. 

There is much terraced work in the mountains 
above San Mateo, and we saw fields of wheat 13,000 
feet high, and looking at them I recall that Pres- 
cott tells us the Incas had a socialistic system that 
was interesting. All land belonged to the emperor, 
and when a man married he was given a certain 
section of hillside for cultivation. Additional 
ground was handed over to him for each child 
born, but if cultivation was compulsory I think 
it must have had a tendency to check the birth 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 47 

rate, for one small section is all I would care to 
tackle. It must have been a great system, for if 
the kid died dad lost a quarter section, and if his 
wife ran away the old man would have to fish for 
a living, as they would commandeer all his prop- 
erty. We saw the first bunch of llamas at San 
Mateo, and they were certainly interesting. I was 
told they could "live on nothing and digest it sever- 
al times, and can exist without water longer than 
a camel. That he will cheerfully carry 100 lbs. on 
hfs back, but put 101 lbs. on him, and he proceeds 
to go to bed for the day. The pants could be kicked 
off him, and he could lie cussed in Spanish, the 
latter being specially effective, in vain. When the 
extra pound is taken off he will promptly arise and 
join the ranks." Evidently they know the game, 
for I can tell you every pound counts when either 
man or beast is 13,000 feet in the air. We reached 
Casapalca at 3 :30, and I discovered I was very tired. 
I found Mr. Sheriff, the superintendent of the R. 
R. there, and presented my letters, telling how I 
had enjoyed the rear end ride, and asked for per- 
mission to return that way. He said he would do 
better than that. "If you have the nerve I will 
send you down the mountain on a gravity car when 
you are ready to go." I assured him nerves and I 
had never become well acquainted and tried to 
thank him for this wonderful opportunity. We 
walked slowly, very slowly up to the General 
Manager's home, Mr. Mailer introduced me to the 



48 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

General Superintendent, Mr. Mott, and he extend- 
ed every courtesy to me. In due time we enjoyed 
a good dinner and adjourned to the comfortable liv- 
ing room, where, in front of a cheerful lire and in 
restful chairs, we spun yarns and talked of far 
away New York. I think all of us wished we could 
be at the Palais Royal for the evening. About S^.30 
we went to bed, and at 10:30 I realized I had 
"soroche." I have had about every known ailment 
from sea-sickness to sore thumb but I never knew 
the real significance of the term headache until 
that fool thing hit me. Soroche is Spanish for 
mountain sickness, and I think it is a combination 
of the American word "sore" oh, gee ! If so, ic is 
well and properly named. I never spent such a 
miserable night before in all my lifetime. 

The law of compensation holds good, for although 
my night in the moutains was a holy terror, my 
return down the mountain cannot be described. No 
one could adequately convey even a remote picture 
of the experience, but I will try to tell something 
about it. I had planned to ride over the 16,000 foot 
pass on horseback with Mr. Mailer on Sunday to 
visit Mr. Campbell at Morococho ; go on from there 
by rail and come down from Tichlo on the hand 
car. It was an alluring prospect, but I was down 
and out Saturday morning, and Mr. Mott sent the 
company doctor to see me. He gave me some dope 
to act as a "heart brake", as it was still racing 
madly, and, for the time being I had lost all interest 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 49 

in everything- pertaining to hills higher than the 
South Side Incline, and I would have viewed that 
with lack-lustre gaze. He then put the stethoscope 
on my heart and told me to g'et down off the moun- 
tain at once or I would be laid up for a spell, and 
perhaps have serious results. So I bade good-bye to 
my contemplated exploring expedition and slowly 
strolled down to the station, assisted by my good 
friends Mott and Mailer. I told Mr. Mott how 
sorry I was to miss the promised ride down the 
mountain in the gravity car, and he said "I think I 
can fix that up for you," so he left me to return in 
a few minutes with permission for me to go down 
ahead of the passenger train as far as Matucana, 
which covers the most picturesque part of the line. 
The news instantly brought about recovery so far 
as the headache was concerned, but I knew my 
heart-beats increased for very gladness. A hasty 
good-bye was said, for it was a case of hustle, as 
the passenger train was about due, and I did not 
want to have any dispute with it as to the right of 
way. I found myself making a very careful men- 
tal estimation of the engineer, for I had a vivid 
picture in my mind of the journey before me, and 
felt the need of a man thoroughly dependable in the 
first place, and one who had not had a drink of any- 
thing stronger than coffee for at least one month. 
He was a husky Indian, and passed inspection, 
measuring up to my requirement very nicely, and 
in another moment I had resigned myself to com- 



50 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

plete self-effacement. In all my life I have never 
felt so utterly insignificant as when that car 
gathered speed and went slithering down the face 
of that mighty hill. For the first mile or two we 
had a good broad foundation under us, and then 
we swept around a spur, coming onto a ledge 
where I could look almost straight down 2,000 feet 
below to the Power Plant driven by a tunnelled 
stream. Brakes were tightened when trails cross- 
ed the railroad tracks, but we would pass by a 
group of llamas, some loaded, others without the 
pack, and all carrying their head about like Brown 
Potter when she came on the stage as "Cleopatra" 
with her minions about her. They are positively 
stuck-up in their bearing, and no doubt feel them- 
selves the aristocrats of the mountains. When I 
had settled down to free breathing and able to see 
things interestedly I noted the contrast of these 
mountains to all others I had ever been on. There 
are no "riven sides" to be seen here, for, while they 
have heavy rains, they seldom last long enough to 
cut the face of the mountain, and where a gorge 
does appear, there is always a permanent stream to 
account for it, but the vast area is smooth except 
where the terraces have been built, or water-way cut. 
It was a kaleidoscopic proposition. A long sweep 
down with constant change of scene ;.a loop the loop 
curve, getting back where we started from, but one 
or two hundred feet below. Then we would come 
to a place where no loop was possible, and we would 



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AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 51 

switch back to the lower level. Into tunnels, over 
bridges, around more curves, finally flashing out of 
a tunnel immediately onto what seemed a mighty 
insecure bridge, where I caught a glimpse of the aw- 
ful depths below. Instantly we plunged into an- 
other hole in the wall, and out of it like the prover- 
bial "bat out of hades." The simile is perfectly 
proper, for the place is called "Infiernillo" (little 
hell), and we were justified in hurrying along, but 
had we left the track just then our next stop would 
have been square in the middle of the moon ; the 
nearby mountain serving to richochet us into the 
proper course upward. And so we came on past 
rushing waterfalls, great spillways at the power 
plants, villages a mile below one minute and on 
our way through them a few minutes later ; every 
minute a thrill that could come but once in a life- 
time elsewhere. Every moment a breathless one 
until we ran into the town of Matucana. That was 
as far as the gravity car could take me, and I 
thought my sensational ride had ended, but it had 
only gotten well under way. In a few minutes af- 
ter arriving at Matucana the passenger train which 
we had preceeded, came in, and just as I was about 
to enter the coach Mr. Sheriff touched me on the 
shoulder, and said, "Have you any nerve energy 
left? If so, come ride the rest of the way on the 
front end." I was glad to accept this great courtesy 
and in a few minutes we were rocking down the 
way on the locomotive, and it was as wild a ricje 



52 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

as on the hand car, for we thundered down the 
mountain at from twelve to fourteen miles per 
hour, which, at times, seemed altogether too speedy, 
especially when we approached what seemed the 
jumping off place, en route to eternity, or skimming 
across a cobwebby bridge from which we could 
catch a fleeting glimpse of a village 2,000 feet be- 
low. It is useless, for me at least, to try to con- 
vey my impressions through mere words ; for, so 
far as I know, the necessary words have never been 
coined, but I can express my appreciation of the 
courtesy extended by Mr. Ottiker, Mr. Sheriff and 
the employees of the road, and the many favors 
at the hands of Mr. Mott, superintendent of the 
Casapalca smelter. These people have placed me 
under obligations I can never repay, but it has 
made me more determined than ever to carry out 
the rotary principle, and I will enjoy serving some- 
one else, even as these splendid fellows seemed to 
enjoy rendering me service. 

By the time I reached Lima all thought of the 
physical distress I had suffered was forgotten. I 
was ravenously hungry and felt like a two-year 
old. The bed was very comfortable, pillow and all, 
which calls for further light. In South Africa the 
natives cut out a block of wood to fit the neck and 
back of the head. Well, the people here do not 
take the trouble to notch the log, but put it (some- 
times it is round and sometimes square) into a pil- 
low case, and let it go at that. The weary pil- 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 53 

grim seeking rest can drop it back of the bed and 
swear or try to sleep on it, and swear harder. But 
last night I slept on the pillow and found it com- 
fortable. 



54 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

/ 

A SUNDAY IN LIMA. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Lima is the only South American city where the 
noble (?) sport of bull fighting is indulged in, as 
Sunday is the day for this event I made inquiry as 
to the time and place, but the hotel clerk in an- 
swer to my inquiry if there was a bull fight on 
today said: "Si senor, pero political solemente." 
Being fed up on political bull fights at home just 
at this time I asked him to direct me to the English 
church. The direction given was followed care- 
fully, but the church seemed elusive, and my best 
Spanish, coupled with the latest development of 
the sign language, failed to help me out, so the 
morning was spent at the Phoenix Club, reading 
the latest edition of the New York Times and Lon- 
don Opinion of even greater antiquity. One is well 
out of touch with things down here, and an edition 
of today would bring a fancy price. After lunch 
inquiry was made as to how to reach the race 
track. The direction given was not nearly so ex- 
plicit as the church chart, but the grand stand was 
reached promptly, but not without some trouble. 
Every taxi in town had been commandeered, and 
the only thing left at the public square was one of 
the teams that helped hauled the mourners when 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 55 

Pizarro was buried. It was one of the most ven- 
erable outfits not tagged in a museum. Had the 
distance been one mile further there would have 
been a collapse. The black pirate in charge looked 
like a good natured negro from around Petersburg, 
and knowing the cab rates I made no bargain. Alas 
for appearances. When I had carefully gotten out, 
so as not to shake things over much, and handed 
him the dollar fare and twenty-five cents tip for the 
sake of "Ole Virginny" he put up a howl for two 
dollars. Not knowing what it might cost to kill 
a coon in Lima he escaped this time, but some fel- 
low will come along who will not count the cost, 
and that rogue will join Pizarro in the realms of 
outer darkness, for they belong to the same class, 
if history is correct. There was only a fair crowd 
in attendance, and very few women, Both men and 
women were dressed somberly, as is the custom 
down here. The day was hot but my flannel suit 
was the only one on the grounds, and was really 
conspicuous in that nothing brighter than Quaker 
gray was in evidence, and but few went even that 
far in color. 

There are two grand stands overlooking ; the 
track ; one for the "Caballeros" and one for the 
"other fellows." There were also two bands of 
music, but neither of them would figure very high 
in musical circles ; the jazz fever being epidemic 
here as elswhere. It was just the every day crowd 
seen on the streets of the city, and a total absence 



56 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

of the race horse type we are so familiar with in 
the States. There were touts, of course, but they 
were far less annoying than our breed. The second 
race was on, but the horses ran sluggishly and 
there was no enthusiasm. The' third race had No. 
13 on the card, and being partial to this number I 
wagered ten pesos on the brute. He was an "also 
ran," and this ended my betting, having in mind a 
trip to Pimlico many years ago when a bicycle was 
all that saved a long, but not lonely walk, as was 
demonstrated by the number who were thanking 
their stars they came on wheels, and found no place 
where they could be hypothecated at the track. 

Hull of San Juan gave me a letter of introduc- 
tion to Mr. Hill, manager of the Mercantile Bank of 
America. He and his assistant came in after the 
second race. Graham was swearing in a moderate 
way because he had just been relieved of his wallet 
containing seven pounds, and his Masonic pin. This 
being a "non-Masonic" community lessens his 
chance for recovery. Should the thief be conscience 
stricken and seek the confessional showing the 
"square and compass" the padre would be sure to 
say, "Bless you my son ; you deserve a reward for 
robbing a heretic. You may keep the emblem and 
I will give you a clean bill of health when you bring 
me the seven pounds." Lima has a bad reputation 
along this line, for one is constantly being warned 
of pickpockts, and doubtless it was well . I left 
my watch and most of my money at the hotel, for I 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE ( 

mingled with the crowd freely at the race track, 
and might be looking around for an Ingersol to- 
morrow. The distance not being great, and wish- 
ing to avoid further discussion with the licensed 
burglars, I decided to walk back to the hotel after 
the races. The journey was most interesting. Pass- 
ing the open door of one of the houses just out- 
side the race track I was vigorouly winked at by 
one of the inmates. Somehow "I ha' me doots" 
about that lady, and think she sized me up as a lone- 
ly man far from home. She, of course, expressed 
her willingness to help me forget in case I had been 
a winner at the races. But after all it may have 
been a friendly greeting. 

The plaza back of the Medical College would be 
very beautiful if only a good rain would come and 
wash the dust of ages from the plants, trees and 
flowers. Even the fountain is dust-laden, and Old 
Neptune looks uncomfortable in his mantle of dirt. 
He has his spear, but he would gladly exchange it 
for a broom, if free to use it without smothering 
the passers by. The basin is half full of a green 
slime, and the very latest thing in mosquitoes is 
being prolifically produced therein. They were 
particularly ferocious, so my study of the artistic 
features of the fountain was brief. The entire jour- 
ney back to the hotel was dusty beyond descrip- 
tion, but the ladies were hanging out the second 
story windows along the main streets, very like in 
everything but personal appearance to what one 



58 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

would see down in South Baltimore when the ladies 
exchanged views as to whether Tim Logan would 
come home drunk again Saturday night. These 
women are wonderfully beautiful, and anyone who 
could walk the length of Calle Espaderos on a Sun- 
day afternoon and not get a kink in his neck has 
either passed the age limit, or his eye-sight is at 
fault. By the way I find myself suffering from a 
bad kink, and am duly thankful. The walk remind- 
ed me of my visit to Pretoria some years ago. 
There was the same swirling dust storm, and it 
drove me straight to the Phoenix Club and a hurry 
call for something to clear my throat. I thought 
of poor old Werker and his "Herr Lanning, I dink 
ve vill trink dis slowly," when the waiter soaked 
him one dollar for a bottle of beer. The interesting 
features of the day did not end at the club, for, 
later an episode in the dining room furnished much 
amusement. A big, fat German sat at the table 
near me. He was a German all right, for he got 
outside of two quarts of beer during the meal. 
Well, he ordered fried chicken, or at least tried to, 
and the waiter brought what looked very like a 
soft shelled crab. It certainly was no part of a 
chicken, and he sent it back with more or less pro- 
fane spluttering. The waiter brought chicken the 
next time, and when he set it on the table he made 
a sign over it very much like the priest makes 
over the sacred relics. That waiter invoked no 
blessing, but was thinking what Bilque used to 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 59 

emphatically express when I would order roast beef 
on Friday, whilst he had to be satisfied with finnan 
haddie or pickled herrings. His plea that it might 
choke me was sincere though friendly, but the 
waiter's wish was sincere without being friendly. 
Evidently the incident flustered the waiter, for I 
ordered chicken milanesa with potatoes, but his in- 
terpretation of "Polio milanesa con papas" result- 
ed in a thing that resembled a kidney plaster more 
than any other one thing. It even bulged out big 
at both ends, and would have passed for one of 
Johnson & Johnson's latest and best. Being some- 
what intimidated by that mysterious sign, I made 
no protest and had a try at it, but am more than 
ever convinced it was intended for the outside of 
the back instead of the inside of the stomach. 
However, there has been no ill effects, but who 
knows what would have been the result had the 
hoo-doo gone with it. 

The country is seething in a political campaign, 
as the presidential election will be held next Sun- 
day. There were several club parades this after- 
noon, with grinning darkies carrying banners, and 
scrub hands making noises of more or less atrocity. 
One of the national flag bearers evidently got 
"het up" during the march, and just as he passed 
me he gathered a handful of the sacred folds and 
mopped his face. It is tragic to even think what 
would happen to Mose if that stunt was pulled 
off during a Rotary parade on Fifth avenue. The 



60 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA AVITH A SAMPLE CASE 

Socialist party has imported one whom they are 
advertising as "El brilanti Tribuno de Argentine" 
which means, so far as I can make it out, a bloom- 
ing Bolshivic from Buenos Aires, but he does not 
seem to fit the roll in the least. When the "Eng- 
lish Primrose" and I were at the desk Monday 
night, this duck passed and repassed, twirling his 
carefully trimmed mustache, at the same time get- 
ting his head entirely reversed each turn. It is most 
fortunate no ink well was available or bricks lying 
around. It would have been imminently satisfac- 
tory to mar his beauty somewhat. He is much 
more like unto the hero in a cheap opera than "Un 
Tribuno." He presents a beautifully trimmed mop 
of black hair, the aforementioned mustache, a de- 
cidely handsome face with "melting eyes," which 
literally say "how can you resist me" when he sees 
a pretty girl looking his way. In the presence of 
men he assumes the air of a superior mortal, and 
these people fall for it. He was the guest of the 
Jockey Club this afternoon, and came in wearing a 
Judge McKenna hat tilted at just the right angle 
to emphasize his romantic beauty. Gray silk gloves 
completed his glass of fashion attire, and no doubt 
we were supposed to see in him a living illustra- 
tion of what socialism will do for the world. Por- 
tions of the Littany came in handy just here. There 
is a banquest at the hotel in his honor tonight, and 
I joined the crowd in the doorway to hear his 
speech. His voice was musical as the zephyrs of 
Samarkand, and W. J. B. never pleaded for free 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 61 

silver with finer inflection. He told us socialism 
was not a "dijo" to tie about man's neck, but a 
principle that will establish a "generoso Utopia" 
which would intensify the patriotism of the citizens 
of this glorious republic, and make possible social 
justice. Then with a graceful emphasis he announc- 
ed that Germany had transplanted whole cities from 
Belgium, but the autocrats of this country sought 
to establish a far greater slavery here. The curious 
feature is that all during the speech, waiters in "at- 
tendant-on-royalty red coats" with white knee 
breeches, were pouring champagne, just as the 
wicked do when they foregather. As before remark- 
ed, I cannot make the fellow fit into his general 
scheme. When he resumed his seat "amidst great 
applause" as announced in the morning papers, T 
left the crowded doorway for a walk which ex- 
tended to the great hill back of the railroad sta- 
tion, where I was able to look down over the sleep- 
ing city. A full moon was shining, and a sight of 
her world-old radiance carried me back over the 
centuries. Perhaps on just such a night the captive 
Inca saw this same glorious moon through his 
barred window, and sent out a prayer to his god 
that he might escape the fate in store for him. 
Perhaps near-by a dark skinned princess sat at her 
window and, by the light of this same moon, knott- 
ed her love letter to drop into the waiting hands 
below, there to be read and found as tender as the 
scented missive the Romeo of today finds in his 
morning mail. 



62 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

THE CITY OF THE KINGS. 

CHAPTER V. 

The morning papers have big headlines telling us 
an "Americano del Norte" has reached the Azores 
in a flying machine, and we pilgrims from the 
States feel quite jubilant over the event. "Don 
Pepe" had celebrated with nine scotch and sodas 
before he got his coffee. There is excitement in the 
air on all sides, for the presidential election began 
yesterday and I was warned to keep under cover 
from six P. M. Saturday to Tuesday morning, or 
take to the tall timbers. There not being any tall 
timbers within thirty miles, I accepted an invitation 
to inspect the line of the Li man and Lurin Valley R. 
R., and visit the ruins of Pachacamac. Ottiker was 
host, and the party consisted of Moser, the Ameri- 
can Steel Product Co. representative, Luxmore and 
Narin of the Bachus & Johnson Co., "Don Pepe" of 
the Rice, Stix Co., of St. Louis, and myself. I may 
remark in passing that it was what could be safely 
called a "bunch." We left town fully equipped for 
the picnic, having all the accessories. Shortly af- 
ter leaving the station we passed between banks of 
filth piled thirty feet high on each side of the track. 
It is the accumulation of centuries and is a feeding- 
place for hundred of disreputable looking vultuies. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 63 

Taking it altogether, it was one of the most 
abominable sights I have ever looked upon. This 
certainly explodes the germ theory, for the germ 
theory and the city of Lima could not exist at the 
same time and place. Our first stop was at the 
Arsenal, and it is a picuresque building. We caught 
a brief glimpse of soldiers on dress parade, and 
heard martial music as we pulled out ; this time 
between high mud walls surrounding cotton fields 
and corn fields. One specially high and well made 
wall enclosed tons of river bed stones, and broken 
rock. I cannot figure out why this rock pile was 
so carefully guarded. 

We were soon beyond the irrigated area and 
crossing a barren desert. -The wind had "marcell- 
ed" the surface of the sand, and the effect was 
beautiful. Back to the foot-hills we were approach- 
ing stretched miles upon miles of this decorated 
sand, with a frame of ochre colored mountains on 
three sides ; some casting dark shadows on the 
yellow sands, and others cloud-capped. It would 
have made a stage setting for the "Garden of Allah" 
by introducing a camel or two. We soon began to 
wind around the foot-hills and through the cuts, in 
our ascent, until we were permitted to look down 
on the beautiful valley of Lurin. From the edge 
of the sand (and this margin was as clearly de- 
fined as if walled) on to the sea was an area of rich- 
est vegetation. We saw veritable cotton trees, the 
stalks being in some cases fully ten feet high, and 



64 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

this produces the finest cotton grown in the world. 
We looked out over corn fields, banana plantations 
and orange groves in luxuriant fruit and foliage, 
with strange trees and stranger flowers every- 
where. It was a remarkable picture. Back of us 
the cloud-capped mountains, around us the barren 
sands, before us the vivid green valley and beyond 
this the blue waters of the Pacific, out of which 
arose numerous high cone-shaped islands, made 
snow-white by guano deposits, and over it all a sky 
as blue as ever bent over Naples in June. I will not 
soon forget it. Swinging around a mile loop we 
passed beyond the first chain of foot-hills and began 
to descend a sharp grade. Along this section there 
were at least fifty beautiful trees known as the 
Huarango, and it is said they will thrive where cacti 
would die for lack of moisture. This seems strange 
in view of the fact that cacti is commonly supposed 
to be the shrubbery used to adorn the "sunken gar- 
dens around the gateway to hades." Later we cross 
an area covered, with a growth similar to the Karoo 
bush of South Africa. I remember going out on the 
veldt, after they had had their first rain in two 
years, and the Karoo bush had taken on the same 
shade of brilliant green shown by this plant. Ottiker 
had written the station agent to have burros at our 
stopping place, but, although the letter was mailed 
three days before, it was handed to the agent as 
he boarded the train at Lima to go out with us. 
This, of course, put us in for a dusty walk, but two 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 65 

of us had already "trod the hot sands of the desert," 
so we naturally did not mind it. There was one 
burro at the station, homeward bound with a 
mountain of firewood piled on his back. Moser 
took a running jump in an effort to mount the pile, 
but only succeeded in spilling things ; the donkey 
and he finally emerging from the tangled wreck. 
The boy driver seemed to get peevish over the 
affair, but when Moser slipped him a peso his splut- 
tering "carambas" gave place to many "gracias". 
It then dawned on some of the bright intellects of 
the party to commandeer the outfit and put the 
donkey boy in charge of the commissary depart- 
ment. He balked at first, but we issued an in- 
surance policy on his woodpile and showed him the 
neck of a beer bottle. After that it was only a 
question of price, which we soon arranged. We 
urged Moser to hold on to the rope along with the 
boy, which he did until confidence was established. 
I find, after all, there is a use for everything. T 
had been wondering why these endless walls had 
been built. Today I found out. The road from 
the station to the ruins of Pachacamac is walled 
on each side ; the walls ranging from three to five 
feet in height, and perhaps one foot across the top. 
When one remembers the very last rain occurred 
here just after the first sea-g-oing vessel was launch- 
ed by old Noah, and that as soon as the road dried 
the people began to travel it, they can readily see 
there is some dust likelv to exist. This wall made 



06 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

a very good pathway for us and we stuck to it 
faithfully. We had to wait until the donkey got 
on ahead lest the dust he and his driver kicked up 
smother us. But even the dust has its economic 
value, as the following episode will prove. Walking 
the wall, Indian hie, we came to a place where it 
was fully six feet high, and here we found a peon. 
He was thoroughly soaked and beautifully poised, 
whom his friends had evidently hung out to dry, 
blocking the way. We could easily have stepped 
across him, but each of us declared we were super- 
stitious. Prods with walking sticks with more or 
less lurid conversational accompaniment failed to 
make the least impression. Soon Don Pepe helped 
him down. The two feet of dust into which he fell 
is all that saved him from being busted. He awoke 
sufficiently to start swearing, and he seemed to 
be only fully awakening to the full possibilities 
along this line of mental effort two hours 
later when we returned. We decided it was be- 
cause no friendly hand had helped him back on 
the wall. Two of us volunteered this service to him, 
but it only brought forth a line of comments that 
would have made the father of swearing regret he 
had ever started such a game. 

We found the ruins of Pachacamac very exten- 
sive and intensely interesting. Immense mounds 
that were evidently community houses, and the 
walls of the Temple of the Sun. Surrounding the 
ruins on three sides the great wall fortifications 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 67 

are easily traced. Ottiker and I dug around the 
base of the community house and unearthed a skull 
on which the hair was yet clinging in places. All 
about were pieces of broken pottery, human bones, 
and the cotton fabric the bodies were wrapped in 
for burial. I picked up a piece of the cloth, a sec- 
tion of water jar, and the skull, intending to bring 
them home with me, but when we overtook Moser 
he urged me to discard them at once ; he assured 
me the handling of these things was extremely 
dangerous. The place is gruesome with its crumb- 
ling walls and ghastly skulls, and utter loneliness, 
for there is no habitation nearby. But, at one time, 
it had doubless been a place of wonderful beauty, 
for it was situated on a prominent hill overlooking 
the sea, with what had been a fertile valley, and 
w r ell cultivated, for a stream of life-giving water 
runs through it. We camped by this stream for 
lunch ; all jolly well hungry, as Don Pepe put it, 
and we were soon busy with eggs, tongue, biscuit 
and beer. We gathered the fragments, and, after 
rilling our donkey boy with same, we started on our 
return trip. Back along the dusty roads, this time 
with Moser on the mule, and the rest of us trail- 
ing along on top of the wall to the point of original 
departure. Finding it was two hours until train 
time, we decided to walk to the town, and were 
well repaid, hot and dusty though it was. Lurin is 
a typical Cholo Pueblo. Making our way past a 
towering wall we came to the plaza. This was a 



68 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

bare plot of ground with not even a blade of grass 
to be seen in the way of growth. Low wattle adobe 
huts surround the plaza, and these are either flat 
roofed or roofless as the owner elects, it not mak- 
ing much difference either way, except the advant- 
age the roofless gives in way of light and air, for 
it never rains here. The buildings are guiltless of 
flooring other than the packed earth, and, so far as 
I could see, almost devoid of furniture. Small and 
wretched as the town is there is nevertheless a big 
church facing the plaza. It was built in 1798, and 
being of adobe also, it has begun to crumble badly 
in places. Perhaps a thousand years hence some 
visitors from Mars will be pawing around and won- 
dering what sort of people lived here and worship- 
ped the hideous image found in the ruins of their 
temple. 

There was an elaborate beer garden nearby the 
church, and it was doing a thriving business. Games 
were being played, and we watched a bowling 
match for some time. We met the village school 
marm as we left the beer garden, and were invited 
to visit the school house. It was a pitiful outfit. 
Rude desks and benches, cut and scratched just as 
our country desks and stools were in the old days, 
showing that boys are the same destructive animals 
the wide world over. The desks were arranged on 
each side of the wall, to the right for the boys, and 
to the left for girls. The teacher's desk at one end, 
and an old-time square piano at the other. I think 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 69 

it was Knabe's original sample. Moser sat down and 
began to play "Nobody knows how dry I am" which, 
by the way, would make an excellent national an- 
them for that country. We all joined in, and the 
schoolmistress must have comprehended the bur- 
den of our song, for when it ended she immediate- 
ly invited us to her apartment back of the school 
room, and opened beer for the crowd. In the mean- 
time Ottiker and I became rivals for her favor, each 
trying- to outdo the other in making love to her. He 
was a generous rival, for he would help me out 
when I would get stalled. I think my heroic strug- 
gle with the language must have excited her pity, 
for she gave me her hand in token of surrender, 
and I immediately swore allegiance to her beauty. 
Voting booths were erected on three sides of the 
square, and I think Don Pepe tried to stuff the bal- 
lot box at one of them. We evidently made a hit 
with the teacher, for we found her at the station to 
bid us good-bye. With her was one of the very 
prettiest little cholas I have ever seen. I am sorry 
to say we immediately forgot our first love, and all 
that saved us from serious complications was the 
warning call of the locomotive whistle, urging us 
to get aboard. But it was a fickle crowd, for Otti- 
ker was wig-wagging to another pretty little chola 
in less than half an hour. During the day we had 
sampled some queer native products. There were 
pacaes, a giant bean like our sweet-bean of the 
States only the seeds have more and better pulp 



TO AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

around them. Granadillos, which are first cousin 
to the pomegranate, but a much finer fruit. We 
finally drank some native concoction called "Chi- 
cha." (I was cautioned to be careful in spelling 
this word.) In the old days the decrepit old women 
of the tribe who were unable to do any other work 
were detailed to "chew" sugar cane, making a 
pulp. After filling a pot with this mash they added 
water and let it ferment. It was then drawn off 
and bottled for use. I had to be convinced this 
practice no longer prevailed before they induced me 
to try it. The stuff is not unpleasant to the taste, 
but if it was the drink at issue in the U. S. there 
would be no need of a fight over prohibition. And 
so we came back over the velvety sands, past the 
"Valley of Delight" whilst the setting sun shed a 
golden splendor over all the wonderful scene. The 
beauty of it will stay with me for many days, and I 
think it will be chiefly because of the awful con- 
trasts. I had seen wretched habitations occupied 
by the charcoal burners in the mountains of Porto 
Rico, and some rather modest houses along the 
Zambesi in South Africa and back of the town of 
Zanzibar, but these places were almost palatial com- 
pared with the shacks I saw along the railroad to 
Lurin. Nor will I ever forget the station agent's 
home at Lurin. Any self-respecting pig would 
have grunted a vigorous protest had he been penned 
in such a place, and yet he showed it to me with 
seeming pride. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE j 71 

The Peruvian corporation, which operates the 
Central R. R. of Peru, took over this road eighteen 
months ago, and are operating it successfully. It 
had been built and run by the government, and had 
shown a loss of $250.00 per month since its con- 
struction. These figures were reversed the first 
month and the road now returns a revenue of two 
thousand dollars per month to the government, less 
fifteen per cent to the corporation. The road and 
rolling stock are in first-class condition, all of 
which would indicate that government ownership 
and operation does not work any better down there 
than it has at home, so far as a profit is concerned. 
As stated, the road is in first-class condition, but 
there is room for terminal improvements, as shown 
by the station agent's quarters. When we reached 
the city last night we found it under martial law, 
with troop of cavalry patrolling the streets, and 
the approach to the plaza blocked on all sides by 
almost solid lines of soldiers. We assumed an a4r 
of great importance, and literally pushed our way 
past the troops, stopping at the Union Club on out- 
way to the hotel. We did not think it worth while 
to risk going to the Exposition where we usually 
dine, for shots were being exchanged, and the pa- 
trol was evidently on the job, as we could hear it 
clattering by as w r e sat at dinner behind heavy 
storm shutters. I expected to see a list of casual- 
ties in the morning paper, but if anyone got hurt 
no mention was made of it. It was considered some- 



(2 ABOUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

what risky to kite around much today, but I had 
been told about the attractive trip to Chorrillos, 
and as Smith was willing to take chances we board- 
ed the train at 1 :30 for the excursion. Just here let 
me say I have seldom seen better service than is 
given by the Lima Street Car Line, and the rolling 
stock in the suburban service is not only well equip- 
ped but the cars make good speed. We followed the 
coast line south, crossing a fertile valley and pass- 
ing through two beautiful little towns. Milleflores 
and Barranco are resident sections of Lima, and are 
extremely attractive. There are splendid shade 
trees, brilliant flower gardens, and beautiful homes 
in both towns, and Chorrillos is even more attrac- 
tive because of its location. The coast line makes 
a deep curve from La Puento, making quite a bay ; 
the beach terminating in a promontory rising per- 
haps 800 feet. A serpentine pathway is cut in the 
face of the bluff, leading to the beach, and the trip 
is* well worth while. A stream of water follows 
the path, and morning glories, taking sustenance 
from this life-giving source, climb thirty feet in 
places, making a pleasing contrast to the grim 
walls that face the ocean with so bold a front. 

I have never seen anything more fantastic than is 
the rock mass at the foot of this promontory. The 
ceaseless pound of the waters has cut deep inden- 
tations, and these are constantly being filled with a 
snow-white foam. The rocks being inky black, 
the effect is lovely, and the picture held us silent 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 73 



for a time. Returning from the beach we climbed 
to the top of the promontory where we admired the 
well executed heroic statue of the Virgin. This 
spot marks the Waterloo of Peru, for on these sur- 
rounding- hills was fought the losing battle against 
the Chilians. The hillside is covered with statues 
and shrines erected to about every saint on the 
calender, but whether they are to invoke strength 
to renew the fight, or patience to bear defeat, I 
cannot tell. We stopped for a moment to watch the 
progress of a crap game between three little cholos. 
They were shooting for tin beer caps, and one little 
rascal must have worked loaded dice on the others, 
for he had a pile of winnings a foot high. When we 
got back to the city we found cavalry and infantry 
stationed everywhere, and all business places closed 
tight. There was not even a light in front of the 
moving picture palaces, and the booze houses look- 
ed as if they were hermetically sealed. Shortly 
after we arrived in town the trains stopped run- 
ning and by eight o'clock the streets were absolutely 
deserted, save for one newsboy whom I heard call- 
ing an extra giving the results of the election, but 
trade was not brisk, for there was no one to buy. 
The winning party did not let a "cheep" be heard 
from them, for I suppose one "viva la nuevo presi- 
dente" would have started a revolution. So far as 
I can size up the situation, President Lequia can 
have his job, for it looks as if he would have to 
pack an arsenal to hold it successfully. They cap- 



74 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

tured him some years ago when he was president 
before and dropped him in a sand-pit, from which 
he was fortunate enough to be rescued, but they 
may cover him up the next time, and leave him 
there. 

My visit to Lima has been delightful, and one 
could not find a better bunch of good fellows on 
earth. Some people, coming here for a day or two, 
have written unkindly about the American and Eng- 
lish colony and it would be best if there were just 
a little less hospitality dispensed, for, while the 
recipients come, accept and pass on, the dispensee 
remains in constant session, which may ultimately 
strain the boiler plates a bit. But they are good 
Indians and certainly gave me a royal time. I leave 
with regret, and look forward to my return next 
year, for my connection with the W. R. Grace Com- 
pany indicates a very successful business in both 
belting and babbitt metal. I called on the trade 
with their salesmen, and introduced my line, secur- 
ing generous sample orders, and I am sure the ac- 
counts will be well cared for. Being accredited to 
Grace & Company made my work very simple, and 
I will enjoy this great advantage up and down both 
coasts. So all things point to unqualified success. 
I found the city crowded with American salesmen 
with everything from petticoats to patent medi- 
cines, and buyers in various houses whom I talked 
with told me their men were having hard sledding. 
This was confirmed by the expression seen on some 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA AVITH A SAMPLE CASE 75 

of the faces at the dinner hour. Whenever I saw 
a poor sun-of-a-gun with a frown on his face, and a 
big whiskey and .soda alongside, I knew the story 
and felt sorry. I fear some of our firms in the 
States are "jumping at conclusions" and are riding 
for a fall, but I have not been in the field long 
enough to express an opinion of value. Four months 
from now I will be better posted and may say some- 
thing that may be helpful, so I will finish this chap- 
ter with a word in general. I got out early this 
morning and went through the big market house, 
and it repaid the effort, for it was a strange sight. 
Evidently they depend on dogs to keep the meat 
market clean, and dogs of various degrees and pedi- 
grees were busy under and between the stalls in 
their work as scavengers. Other dirt looked as 
if it had accumulated for ages, with no effort to 
clean, other than to push it under the stalls when it 
obstructs the runway. I saw about all the fruits 
and vegetables we are familiar with in the States, 
and some I know nothing about. It was not cal- 
culated to increase ones appetite to walk through 
the place. Dirty squaws and dirtier bucks were 
pawing over, the meat, testing its toughness with 
their thumb nail, like market women test squash to 
see if it is fresh. In fact there are several things 
it is not kind to discuss, and the Lima market hap- 
pens to be one of them. There are other offences 
I wish to speak of, chief of which is the nerve- 
racking police whistles that seem to be eternally 



76 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

passing along a signal. I am told they still use the 
old dungeons far under ground for very wicked 
people, and one would be almost tempted to commit 
murder (of a policeman) if they would promise in- 
carceration in one of the deep cells where the chorus 
of whistles could not be heard. 

Many odd hours were spent in the churches, and 
I want to protest against some of the things I saw 
in them. In wandering around the world and stray- 
ing into places of worship as I have a habit of 
doing I have seen some strange efforts made in 
order to portray adoration of Christ, but never 
have I gazed upon such gruesome sights as are 
shown in the Lima churches. Figures with hide- 
ous faces slashed and blood besmeared until to 
look upon them is to insure a nightly recurrence 
of horrid dreams. How in heaven's name they can 
identify these images with the beautiful and lov- 
ing Jesus is beyond me. He, who tenderly lift- 
ed the child to his knee and bade His disciples to 
"consider the lilies" surely cannot subscribe to a 
worship conducted in a chamber of horrors, such 
as these. I am thankful to say I found one rare 
exception. The Church of Santo Domingo is 
really beautiful. The shrines artistic, and the 
paintings far superior to the average picture seen 
in Central or South American churches. There 
was not one thing to offend the eye or sicken the 
soul. It is to be noted also that in this church I 
found the only number that could be considered a 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 7'rf 

body of worshippers, which, to my mind, is con- 
vincing proof that these good people prefer the 
clean and beautiful if permitted to choose. We are 
told there are sixty-seven churches within the city 
limits, and I visited eight, any one of which I will 
guarantee could take care of all the church attend- 
ance of the city. It is doubtful if anywhere on 
earth there are such great facilities for worship 
and so little real religion. For, judging by our stand- 
ards, there is precious little of the real thing here, 
for one steps over a lottery vender in order to en- 
ter the sacred portals of the churches, and the 
Sabbath day is either given over to a bull fig'ht or 
a horse race. However, with it all, they are a 
courteous, lovable people, and with the exception of 
paying forty cents in real hard cash for a cake of 
Pear's soap, which cost the pirate who sold it to 
me not more than fifteen cents, I have no kick com- 
ing. But I have found out why the steamship 
company gave one a towel when one came on 
board and expect it to do duty for the entire cruise. 
Hotels the same way. The fourth day out from 
Colon on the Aysen I refused to be any longer 
attached to my towel or napkin. At first I was 
rather peevish over the matter, but since I learn- 
ed the price of soap, my only surprise is they do 
not "pass them along." Prices are high here. 
Room in the hotel $3.00 per day, bath and meals 
extra, and everything else in proportion, except 
street car fare, this is two and one-half cents 



ib AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

within the city limits, and but ten cents to Callao, 
which is a run of seven miles. The cars are kept 
in good condition and the service is frequent. 
From many sources I heard of the dislike of the 
Peruvians for people from the States, but in no 
case did my experiences bear this out, but just the 
reverse, for countless little courtesies were shown 
me, and not once was I made to feel uncomfortable 
because I was an alien. I made two efforts to visit 
the cript of the cathedral in order to see the 
mummy of Pizarro, but each time it was closed so 
I was unable to pay my respects to his venerable 
bones. His story has been told many times and 
by gifted writers, so I will only mention the bones 
as being a source of revenue for the church he 
built, so he is still an active contributor. Next to 
the cathedral the most interesting building is the 
museum. I spent half a day inspecting the many 
curious things that have been gathered from the 
tombs of the Incas and the people who had come 
and gone before them, leaving no record other 
than crumbling ruins, grinning skulls and bits of 
pottery. They were as great a mystery to the 
Inca as the Cliff Dwellers are to us, with nothing 
more to tell who or what they were, or when 
they ceased to exist. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 79 

THE SAND DUNES AND EL MISTI. 

CHAPTER VI. 

The golden rays of the setting sun reflected on 
the sides of San Lorenzo gave it the appearance 
of being clothed in a mantle of, yellow velvet, and, 
although absolutely barren, it was nevertheless 
beautiful as we rounded the outward point for 
Mollendo. We soon were caught by the great 
green rollers that had been gathering volume over 
an area of 4,000 miles, and the Huasco began to 
wallow her way down the coast. It was not long 
before a number of our passengers took on that 
"far-a-way look" assumed by poor sailors, and the 
next morning the decks were deserted except by a 
few old shellbacks. We had plenty of room to 
promenade, and prompt attention at breakfast, for 
even Doc. Grady did not get up until noon, but that 
was because he had attended a tea party the night 
before. In fact I practically had the deck to my- 
self all morning. The water is still tinged with in- 
fusoria showing a distinct yellow cast, but no 
longer ropey as it was north of Callao, nor are 
the birds numerous down here. A few big gulls 
come on the scene for a few minutes from time to 
time, and a number of albatros wing along grace- 
fully, following the rise and fall of the waves. 



80 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

Some hundred or more small brown birds followed 
the wake of the ship until we reached anchorage 
in Mollendo. They shuttled back and forth, cease- 
lessly darting to the surface to pick up anything 
in the food line dropped from the ship. This morn- 
ing as I came out on deck I looked out over the 
water and saw two black satin-covered heads 
within a few feet of the ship's side. Mr. and Mrs. 
vSeal had come out to welcome us to their waters. 
Later on we passed the largest school of whales 
I have ever seen. They would come lazily to the 
surface, send up a snow-white spray and then 
"sound," sticking ten feet of tail out of the water. 
The ship was fifteen minutes passing them, and 
there were not less than fifty in the party. If the 
old "Cachelot" had come along there would have 
been lively times for a few minutes, after the 
crow's-nest had called out "there she blows." The 
ship runs close to shore for fifty miles before 
reaching Mollendo, and it is interesting to note the 
rugged front presented by the coast line, and the 
drifts of alkali which made the finest imitation of 
snow that could be imagined. The illusion was a 
duplicate of the Nevada desert before reaching 
Salt Lake City. 

Much has been written about the landing at 
Mollendo, but the half has never been told, and 
never will be, for each one landing there w r ill have 
a different story. The day was exceptionally quiet, 
but anyone standing on the quay looking out at 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 81 

the combers through which we had to pass to 
reach the "gibbett" would be inclined to have a 
queer feeling up their spine, for time and again 
seas came thundering in that would have swamped 
any small boat afloat. Sometimes a week will pass 
before anyone can either leave or go on board 
ships. Dr. Grady came ashore with us to see that 
we were properly cared for, but hurried back while 
the going was good. We will miss him much, for 
not only were his tales of the hills interestingly 
told, but he played a good hand at bridge, and 
thereby helped to while away the time for our 
party. We are more than a day late, and as yes- 
terday was "train day" we will stay here all night 
and make the trip by railroad auto car in the morn- 
ing. This will be gratifying as an offset to our 
stay here, for while the accommodations seem fair, 
it is nevertheless rather an unattractive place, 
with nothing worth while after the passengers 
have been yanked out or dragged back into the 
boats at the landing place, but I fancy this would 
furnish plenty of excitement at times. 

There was a hitch in the proceedings, and our 
auto car ride up the mountains did not material- 
ize, so we boarded the regular train at noon for 
Arequipa. For perhaps 12 miles we followed the 
shore-line, and started straight up the hill through 
gravel bed cuts at first, then over and around the 
sand covered foot-hills. These, in time, became 
more abrupt and we began to zizzag and loop in 



82 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

our reach upward. Each "loop" and "zag" lifting 
us three or four hundred feet. Sometimes sight 
of the ocean would be cut off, and again we could 
see a stretch of twenty miles, always the line of 
white surf marking the edge and plainly visible, 
although 3,000 feet below, and 15 miles away. Just 
here we caught our first glimpse of "El Misti" 
lifting its white nightcap between two mountains 
in the east. Looking north we could plainly see 
great "Coropuna" towering heavenward 22,000 feet, 
its white snow crown gleaming in the sunlight. 
Then came a period when we were shut in by deep 
cuts and clustering peaks, seeing nothing else 
until we rounded to and came out on the first 
plateau. We then had before us the most dazzling 
picture ever presented to mortal eyes. So far 
as I have seen, there is nothing like it on earth. 
To the east, for thirty miles, lay the red sand- 
covered pampa, apparently more lifeless than the 
deserts of Arizona or Nevada, for our first view 
indicated a complete absence of all life, either man, 
bird, beast or plant. Beyond the pampa is the 
beginning of the second step upward. This range 
does not rise high enough to be snow-clad, but its 
sides are cut deeply with gorges that hold dark 
shadows, in contrast to the general scheme of 
brilliant color reflected from its face, these colors 
ranging from delicate pink to the deepest purple. 
We let our glance sweep over this pitiless barren- 
ness, feast on the color reflected from the face of 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 83 

the first range and then rest on the real sight. 
Dominating all is "El Misti," standing alone in his 
19,000 feet of grandeur. It is a perfect cone, and 
looks mighty suspicious to me, for these perfectly 
beautiful cones, like Pele, Stromboli and 
other outlets of the nether regions, now and again 
take a fool notion into their heads to get busy, 
and when they do, a thousand miles or more is 
plenty near enough for safe observation. But like 
all dangerous things, he is beautiful, and~ I am glad 
to be near, and would be. if lava was flowing down 
his sides. To the north of Misti stands the Two 
Brothers, each one of which would rival Misti did 
they stand alone, for they, too, lift their heads 
19,000 feet above the sea. South of Misti is the 
"Pichu Pichu" range ; a series of spurs ranging 
around 17,000 feet, and high enough to carry eter- 
nal snows, but evidently the sides are too abrupt 
to afford a foothold, and so it shows a purple sur- 
face, with delicate traceries of white shining where 
the snow has found a place to cling. It is simply 
impossible to convey the impression gathered from 
the vista. One must see it, and see it with an eye 
trained to take in the glory of such thing's, before 
it can be understood, but no man can convey this 
understanding by words. And all this panorama 
was outlined against a turquoise sky, thereby lend- 
ing further enchantment to the already dazzling 
picture. Sky and mountain were soon shut from 
our view by a cloud of dust raised as the train 



84 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

sped across the level pampa, and we got no re- 
lief until we reached "La Joya". Here the dust 
gave place to a fine red gravel bed, and we came in 
contact with the travelling sands, which so puzzle 
the scientist and pester the track superintendent 
of the railroad company. These "Medanos" as 
they are called, form perfect moons in the first 
quarter, twenty to thirty feet between the points 
and eight to fifteen feet high in the centers. There 
are hundreds of them marching steadily across the 
plain by the south winds, which come to fill the 
vacuum caused by heat engendered in this barren 
stretch. These Medanos form a striking contrast 
to the general surface ; they being composed of 
pale gray sand, while the surface over which they 
travel is a pale brick red. They maintain their 
complete identity, sending out scarcely a grain in 
advance, and leaving not a grain behind ; the wind 
being just strong enough to lift the grains over 
the top and let them roll to their places in front. 
At Vitor we began the real climb, making our 
way through deep cuts showing conglomerate, 
with traces indicating the presence of gold, silver 
and iron, but only enough to stain the granite that 
had been partly fused by volcanic action. On up 
we went, four, five, six thousand feet, finally 
reaching a point where we looked out over what 
appeared to be a great red sea, that had been 
caught in the middle of a storm and petrified, 
showing wave after wave. The train, at this time, 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 85 

was running on a ledge cut in the face of the great 
mountain, and as we rounded it we were permitted 
to look almost straight down, and, there 2,500 feet 
below, was what seemed a perfect paradise. The 
high mountains were shut from our view at this 
time, and all around us was the abomination of 
desolation, all of which made the picture of the 
green valley below all the more intense. We play- 
ed hide and seek with it, getting nearer as the 
downward loops were made, until the night closed 
in and it became a black line below us. But Misti 
and the Brothers beckoned us on, and at 7:30 we 
reached Arequipa, dirty as ash cats, but those of 
us who "saw things" thanked God for the privilege 
we had been permitted to enjoy. 

When I awoke this morning and looked out of 
the window I stood for a moment entranced, for, 
forming a backgTound to the great cathedral were 
the mighty Brothers, and I bowed my head in 
reverence, for I was in the presence of holy things. 
The charm of this place will hold me fascinated 
many days, for the time spent in a mild exploration 
but confirms my first impression. Of course I visit- 
ed the cathedral, and it is the first church I have 
been in that had nothing but what was pleasing to 
the eye, and soul-inspiring. There are no blood- 
stained figures to shock one ; no tinsel, no fantastic 
gilded wood carving, and no expressionless paint- 
ing^ to mar its walls. What a contrast to the 
church at the opposite side of the plaza ! And this 



86 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

is worthy of special mention. Just inside the high 
iron fence is a strange shrine consisting of a rude 
cross, the arms of which are adorned with a full 
sized gamecock on one end, and on the other is a 
bowl and pitcher. Hanging to one arm is a Roman 
sword with a wooden ear tacked onto it, and a 
stalk of sugar-cane. On the other arm is a pair 
of heavy pliers and a hammer such as Thor might 
have wielded. Tacked on where the arms crossed 
is a piece of white canvas, on which is painted 
what is doubtless supposed to be the head of the 
Christ, with the usual liberal supply of blood drip- 
ping over the sacred face, and below this a monk's 
habit carved in wood is suspended by a wire, and 
on the skirt is fastened three dice. The one above 
indicating 1, the other two show 4 and 3, likewise 
the two side views show 5 and 2, and 6 and 1, 
which would indicate the artist as being familiar 
with the great "down South" game. Of course I 
understood the allegory, but it did not awaken any 
feeling of reverence. Neither did the inside of the 
church, for here I found a figure of the Christ with 
no less than 35 blood-dripping wounds on His body 
and arms. 

We have all heard of the Swiss Bell Ringers, 
but the impresarios went to the wrong place when 
they were in search of talented all-round ring- 
ers of bells. I would put these people against the 
world in that line. There has not been five minutes 
elapsed since the break o'day that from one to 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 87 

twenty bells have not been inflicting their discord- 
ant notes upon the long suffering public. I looked 
out from my windows and watched the operator 
in the tower of the cathedral this morning, and 
the operation was surely unique. He had a dou- 
ble action. With one hand he slowly tolled a deep- 
toned bell, with the other he pounded the eternal 
daylights out of a smaller bell. One not knowing 
would think he was sounding a fire alarm or call- 
ing out the militia, instead of bidding the faithful 
to prayers. The plaza opposite the cathedral is 
the most attractive I have seen. A profusion of 
palms, happily grouped, and brilliant flowers in 
parterres. It is surrounded on three sides by arch- 
ed arcades, giving a covered street in front of the 
stores, and uniform style of upper structure that 
is beautiful in its dress of pink and white, with 
yellow window frames and shutters. 

In the evening I walked to the extreme out- 
skirts of the town. Out through the poor quarter, 
and I do not think I have ever seen such filth and 
squallor. Heaven help these people; they defile 
the walls of their churches even in the most pub- 
lic places. I do not want to criticize, but I am 
convinced that if the padres would take some of 
the time spent in reciting superficial prayers in 
empty sanctuaries and devote it to teaching these 
poor devils how to keep clean, and, at least, the 
first principles of sanitation, they would come 
nearer the Master's service, and surely contribute 



8b AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

largely to the public health. Out past the pitiful 
sights and away from the odors I found myself 
in the immediate presence of "El Misti." There 
the ugly things of the world were forgotten as I 
watched the shadows climb its purple sides, and 
saw the snow catch a pink glow from the setting 
sun. It was almost dark when I started back to 
the city, but I had to stop for a few minutes long- 
er, as Venus and Jupiter are on a visit, just as 
they were fourteen years ago when I watched their 
love-making from a steamer in the Indian ocean. 
Now, as then, Venus is radiant as a bride adorned, 
and if I was old Jupiter I would speed up a bit. 
Castor and Pollox were in position with Jupiter 
and Venus to form a perfect square, and for a 
moment I thought of them as the corner stones of 
the "city that lieth four-square, whose builder and 
maker was God." 

The evil odors were all about me, and the clang- 
ing bells were doing their utmost to make night 
hideous, but I was living in another world, and 
things of this world had no influence upon me. 
Had there been train service I would have gone on 
to La Paz much sooner, but there is only one train 
weekly, but charming acquaintances here made 
my stay pleasant. Two delightful evenings were 
spent with Mr. and Mrs. Ancieux, and Mrs. Bates 
gave me such a happy home I would have been 
half-glad if trains had only gone out monthly. 

A visit to the observatory last Tuesday brought 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 89 

us an invitation from Dr. Hinkley to ride with 
him the following day. We started at ten in com- 
pany with Dr. Cone of Cambridge University, and, 
thanks to our excellent guide, made a trip through 
the great gorge of the Chile that was certainly en- 
joyable, and at times thrilling, for the trail was 
rugged and steep in places. The volcanic ash made 
uncertain the foothold, and our horses would some- 
times get too close and send a small avalanche 
sliding 1 down the almost perpendicular sides to 
the river six or seven hundred feet below. Had 
we followed, it would have been the "end of the 
trail," but we had mountain horses that climbed 
like goats, and so returned safely. There were 
many places that approached the sublime, especial- 
ly when we could lift our eyes from the black 
gorge below to the white crown of Misti. My 
recent visit to the Grand Canon has spoilt me for 
anything in the way of canons, but it was, never- 
theless, a trip well worth taking. Returning to 
the Observatory we enjoyed a good breakfast. 
(Breakfast in this country being any meal eaten 
before 7 P. M.) Then Dr. Cone and I rode back 
between the high dobe walls and over the rough 
cobblestones to the city, where I got busy with 
some notes, intending to write further on the cus- 
toms and habits of the people, but reached the con- 
clusion that the least said the better, for I have 
never witnessed such a total disregard of the com- 
mon decencies. Whenever I come in contact with 



90 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

unpleasant things I look for the "compensation," 
and in this case found it in the "Quinta Bates." 
There was no room for me Saturday night when I 
arrived, but Tuesday I became the guest at that 
bower of beauty. It had been practically five 
months since I had even looked at an honset-to- 
goodness bed, except the two or three days in New 
York, the balance of my nights being spent in 
tropical hotel bedrooms or steamship berths, and 
when I felt the pillows and found they had been 
filled with real feathers instead of a blockj of 
wood, well, there are times when words fail, and 
when I looked about and saw the flower-decked 
dresser and writing desk, and the beauty of the 
whole outfit, I decided I had the better of the 
"compensation" and forgot the sights and smells 
of the outside world. Quinta Bates is an old "wall- 
ed in" Spanish house, which has been taken by 
Mrs. Bates and made into a delightful home for 
poor weary pilgrims who happen along this way, 
and are fortunate enough to find a room. Mrs. 
Bates makes one feel he is a favored guest in a 
private home rather than a paying guest in a pen- 
sion. There will be many times during the next 
six months when I will close my eyes and wish I 
could open them and see- Misti from my window. 
There is not much business here at the present 
time, but a copper property has been located near 
here, which, if developed, will make the town boom 
at once. It is a center for hide-buying and general 
trading with herdsmen, and small farmers. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 91 

LAKE TITICACA. 

CHAPTER VII. 

It is difficult to believe we left Arequipa Friday 
morning and this is only Saturday. It seems the 
time is far too short to have crowded in the strange 
sights we have encountered. The train pulled out 
from Arequipa promptly at 7 :30, and, making a 
wide circle, we began to climb toward the peaks 
of Chachani, with glorious Misti and Pichu Pichu 
dominating the foreground. We soon rounded the 
base of Chachani cutting off our view of Pichu 
Pichu, but for hours Misti was in sight, and, while 
seemingly approaching Chachani, we never got any 
nearer. Finally we came out on the first table- 
land and then got a real view of the great volcano. 
The north side, being the hot side, was almost free 
from snow, and the last flow of lava lay over his 
shoulder, in color and beauty of drapery, like an 
East Indian shawl, the fold effect being brought 
about by the shadows down his riven side. We 
were on a rugged platteau overgrown, in places, 
with karoo bush and bunch grass, and ringed about 
by sun-capped peaks. This field showed the re- 
sult of the first explosion from Misti, or one of 
the Brothers, for blocks of ryolite, some twenty 
feet square, were plentifully scattered about ; it 
being the limestone thrown out before the intense 



92 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

heat turned both limestone and granite into a 
flowing liquid. When the explosion came, great 
chasms were opened in the earth miles long and 
an hundred or more feet wide. These chasms, or 
box canons, as they are called, are at this time five 
to six hundred feet deep, and when the first shock 
came old earth was literally split open. 

Great flocks of llamas and alpacas covered the 
low foot-hills on each side, and we were also where 
they harvest the Yarita. Seen at a distance it re- 
sembles giant toad stools and it is of great value 
as fuel. In fact there are sections where this and 
llama dung are the only means for cooking, and 
twigs the size of a lead pencil are very carefully 
conserved for fuel. The hotels are without heat, 
and I have been sleeping with nearly all my clothes 
on during the past week. There are some fuels 
mentioned I do not take kindly to, but I would 
take a chance about this time, for I have to stop 
every few minutes to rub some circulation into 
my fingers. Today I had an electric stove brought 
into my sitting room, but it reminds me of the fire 
kindled in my room at the Queens Hotel in Glas- 
gow. I was nearly perished with the cold, but af- 
ter contemplating it for a minute I concluded a 
poor, futile thing like that had better be dead, so 
I smothered it and went to bed. I shall let my 
electric burn, however, for it has the virtue of 
looking cheerful, even if it does fail to make any 
impression on the surrounding atmosphere. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 93 

We were soon past the foot-hills, and had begun 
to climb the third great step of the Andes. Every 
cut we passed through told a story of the awful 
forces that had been let loose in past ages, and 
there is no such vast area of volcanic desolation to 
be found in any other part of the world. Our 
climb up the third range was not nearly so pictur- 
esque as the run between Mollendo and Arequipa, 
but perhaps we are getting to look upon these 
wonders of nature as old stories. At any rate I 
no longer risked getting cross-eyed by trying to 
look both ways at once. In fact I read a magazine 
until the call announced we had reached Crucero 
Alto. This station is 14,688 feet, and Covert and 
I left the train and took pictures in the midst of 
a family of Indians. They did not pose readily, but 
the conductor kindly held the train until we got 
them in position. We were now on the great 
southern pampa of Peru, with a run of nearly 100 
miles at an altitude of 14,000 feet and over. Whilst 
the likeness is not exact, nevertheless by substi- 
tuting springbok for alpacas and antelopes for 
llamas, with a liberal supply of quaint mirages 
over the landscape I could easily have fancied my- 
self again making the trip from Bischoff to Bloom - 
fontein, for the pampa of Peru and the veldt of 
South Africa are very much alike. But there is 
no real likeness, for the pampa ranges around 
14,000 feet while the veldt is only five to six hun- 
dred feet high, and the latter is frequently gieen 



94 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

with vegetation. Another difference lies in the 
vast farms of the veldt, while here are small "tin- 
eas" tilled by Indians. They seem fat and eon- 
tented, but I do not think there is a dwelling- place 
on earth with so little to recommend, unless it 
may be where the hairy men come from in North- 
ern China. Many of these "tineas" are owned by 
absentee landlords and worked on shares, which 
reminds me that even Sinn Feiners would admit 
there were worse places than Ireland if they could 
have a season down here. 

About 4 P. M., we came to a valley leading 
down to Lake Titicaca, which had rather pleasing 
scenery of olive green hills on each side, with 
evidences of cultivation, and more numerous habi- 
tations (heaven defend me for calling them such.) 
Just after we dipped over the edge and started 
downhill we passed Lake Lagunillas and Lake Sara- 
cocha, and they would have been beautiful had 
the hills about them not been bleak and the shores 
so barren. As it was, they looked like two big 
eyes, with no eyebrows or lashes. It was quite 
dark when the train pulled in alongside the dock 
at Puno, where a noisy horde of wild men and 
boys scrambled on board to grab hand baggage. 
They were about as scandalous a looking party as 
ever congregated in one group, but our stuff was 
quickly and safely gotten on board the Inca. She 
is a 1,000 ton steel craft, driven by Diesel en- 
gines. She was brought up from the coast in small 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 95 

pieces and fabricated at Puno. It must have been 
rather a job, but it was well clone and she slips 
through the water like a duck, with no more fuss 
than a duck would make. Captain Tynan was a 
friend of Covert's so we got the bridal chambers 
and spent a very comfortable night in making the 
149 miles to Guaqui. I was up with the first flush 
of day, and, as my window faced the east, I watch- 
ed the sky grow crimson back of the great snow- 
clad Bolivian range. I dressed quickly and was 
on deck when the sun came over the white shoul- 
der of Illampi. The waters of the lake are steel 
blue, and did not look very alluring. It looked as 
cold as charity, and no doubt was. The lake is 
narrow at this end, and the west shore consists of 
a range of bare hills, perhaps 500 feet high. There 
is a long mole at the landing-place with railroad 
track running the full length, and our train was 
waiting. The dock was crowded with a pictur- 
esque group of Indians in their brilliant plumage 
of colored ponchos, and, sitting erect on a horse, 
was a perfect type of a Hun officer. If anyone 
had yelled "Heine" he no doubt would have an- 
swered ; although a Bolivian had assured me the 
night before that his country had tied a can to 
the tails of all the German officers that were in 
his country, but if tha.t fellow was not a German, 
then there had been a scandal in his family. The 
customs house was perfunctory, and we were soon 
on our wav to La Paz, which is one of the real 



90 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

interesting cities of the world. We began on this 
end of the lake just where we left off at the other 
end, and made our way over a brown pampa with 
mud huts on either side. It would have been a 
dull enough prospect had it not been for the cathe- 
dral-like mountain of Illimani, which seemed to 
rise from the pampa ahead of us. It lit up the 
scene with a glory all its own, for the sun glitter- 
ed on its icy sides, giving it the appearance of sil- 
ver against a sapphire sky. 

Five miles out from Guaqui is the town of Tihu- 
anacua, and here are found the oldest ruins on the 
American continent. The most prominent is an 
immense mound, walled at its base with close fit- 
ting stones, showing skilled workmanship. There 
is part of a wide stairway leading up from the 
general level, and on each side is a pillar of stone, 
cut from rock that is found no nearer than eighty 
miles. Many of these monoliths are scattered 
about, some showing rude carvings. One standing 
near the railroad shows the square outline of a 
human face, surmounted with what would seem a 
massive crown. Five fingers, all the same length, 
hold the stomach, and if there is any expression 
on the face it would indicate a reason for the posi- 
tion. Around the waist line is carved a belt, show- 
ing the sacred triangle, and the trouser legs show 
alternate squares, and queer human faces. It evi- 
dently was a god to these people, which explains 
why they did not exist long enough to see the 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 97 

coming of the Inca, for no one would worship that 
idol and reach a ripe old age. Writers tell us the 
same weird gods are found on Easter Island, but 
the mysterious stones are all that is left of the 
people who bowed down before them. It seems a 
pity some move is not made to collect and pre- 
serve these interesting relics of a dead past, but 
the wonderful stones are only recognized as avail- 
able material for houses in La Paz and for railroad 
construction. If I ever visit the section again it 
would not surprise me to see the old idol smoothed 
off and used as a sill in the new cathedral. Evi- 
dences of this same civilization have been found on 
the Island of the Sun in the middle of the big lake, 
but no where is a key to be found to unlock the 
mysteries hidden in the unknown art. 

The pampa rises steadily from 12,500 feet at 
Guaqui to 13,396 feet at Alto. There it ends 
abruptly and one looks over the edge into a vast 
canon over 1,000 feet deep, and at the bottom lies 
the famous city of La Paz. To look down upon it 
from the rim of the canon is one of the most im- 
pressive sights imaginable. The dust-red tiles on 
buildings, the green in the public squares, the gray 
wall back of the city, in one place 2,000 feet high, 
and mighty Illimani make a sublime picture. An 
electric motor takes the entire train down along 
the face of the canon on a seven per cent grade at 
first, and later by long sweeping loops until the 
station is reached. I used to inquire from Old 



98 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

Washington if the bus brakes were working go- 
ing up from the station at Lynchburg, but Wash- 
ington's outfit would have gotten no passengers 
here, for his brakes would not have held. 

Records show this became a town about 1190, 
and was called Chiochiabo by native gold miners, 
who established washings here in the year 1545. 
The Spanish cavalier Mendoza took charge of the 
gold situation and changed the name to "La Ciu- 
dad de Nuestra Senora de la Paz," but La Paz is 
all that remains of the original name. It was well 
named the "City of Peace" for the old Dons were 
efficient in establishing peace when they came to 
a place that looked good to them, and they, no 
doubt, established the "peace that passeth under- 
standing," as they did throughout this unfortu- 
nate country. It is the center of Bolivian business, 
and has made more money than they have use for 
during the past few years. Even with the high 
cost of production they have turned out tungsten 
at a cost ranging from $300.00 to $850.00 per ton, 
and received as high as $6,200.00 per ton for one 
lot. The price ranged around $2,000 per ton dur- 
ing the year 1917. As they were shipping from 
300 to 500 tons each month, one can figure there 
are some folks down there who will contribute 
liberally to the income tax. The largest tin mines 
in the world are located eight hours from here, 
but they are around 17,000 feet high, and, as this is 
mid-winter, I will have to pass them up, not feel- 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 99 

ing equal to the trip. Mr. Byron, storekeeper at 
Chuquicamata, and myself drove down the gulch 
this morning through a fine avenue of trees past 
the ambassadorial section to where we could look 
up to the purple range and get a splendid view of 
Illimani. On our way back I saw a little Indian 
sitting in the dusty roadside, and made a try for a 
picture, which will go into the book if it turns out 
all right, for she was pretty as could be, with all 
her dirty outfit. After reaching the city we in- 
spected one of the markets. The venders sit on 
the pavement with their stock in trade in little 
piles on their ponchos. If they fail to dispose of 
their stock they tie it up and tote it back home. I 
witnessed a sale today and cannot do justice to the 
description, but will try. First let me say a word 
about the useful poncho. It is a blanket with a 
hole in the center for the head to go through, and 
is so worn during the day ; the women making a 
market basket or baby carriage out of the back 
end, as occasion demands. Well, an Indian squaw 
came up to the general merchandise stall with her 
poncho a la market basket. She held it open as 
she made known her wants to the market woman 
who skillfully shot her sales into the bag on top 
of a ragged piece of meat that had been purchased 
elsewhere. There was no measuring, but as the 
order was called out the old woman sent two hands 
full of frozen dried potatoes, half a hand full of 
peppers, a quarter section of cabbage and three 



100 ABOUND SOUTH A3IERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

carrots. The market woman then put a table 
spoon full of lard into a cabbage leaf, tossed that 
in, and the transaction was complete. As I figured 
it out, all the lady had to do was to have the pot 
boiling, dump the purchase in just as it stood, and 
produce her dinner. Had this deal been put 
through in the States, there would have been four 
perfectly good paper bags and a wooden saucer 
used, but down here nothing is wasted. 

Just in front of the hotel is the plaza Murillo, 
and in the center of it a monument erected to the 
patriot Murillo, who died at that spot in 1809. 
This was the battle of Lexington for the South 
Americans resulting, not only in the liberty of 
Bolivia, but practically all of South America. Op- 
posite the hotel is the shell of the great cathedral 
of La Paz. If they ever finish it they will have per- 
haps the largest place of w r orship in South Ameri- 
ca for I am told they can seat 12,000 people. I 
may not be able to judge the seating capacity of a 
building, but if they put 12,000 people in that build- 
ing they will break all Catholic church precedents 
and put in a few galleries. I used to think the 
church of St. John the Divine on Morningside 
Heights in New York would hold the record for 
"deliberate construction" on the two American 
continents, but I did not know about La Paz. This 
building has been under way for fifty years, and 
the builders were quite active the first few years, 
but at the rate they are going now, it will not be 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 101 

finished until the fall of 5081. It is a pity they are 
fooling so much time away, for it would be a noble 
structure and should be completed. 

To the left, facing the cathedral, is the hall of 
Congress, and it is a beautiful building. The presi- 
dent's house alongside the cathedral is also an at- 
tractive building. The palace of justice is another 
imposing building, and should front on the plaza, 
but instead it is stuck off on a side street. My 
friend Byron tells an amusing story illustrative of 
the administration of justice, which is worth re- 
peating. He was located here some years ago 
and had rented a house. For some reason it did 
not suit his purpose, so he decided to move. This 
he proceeded to do, without the 30 days' notice to 
the landlord, which resulted in him being summon- 
ed before the court. Now, it seems Byron's friends 
had nicknamed him "Bill Byron," and the sum- 
mons called for "one Bill Byron" to appear. In 
the courtroom he was asked his name and reli- 
gion, and in answer to the former, gave the name 
C. R. Byron, and announced the fact he was short 
on religion. It is the custom here for the judge to 
hold a preliminary trial on all minor cases to de- 
cide if the matter shall come to court, and later 
issue another summons. So two weeks later 
Byron was served with another paper calling for 
one "C. R. Bill Byron" a "Dam heretic" to ap- 
pear before the august court and show cause why 
he should not go to jail for the rest of his life. 



102 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

As Bill has been with us all day, the sentence was 
evidently suspended. 

In Mollendo the American consul made the 
statement that millions of dollars, worth of Ameri- 
can merchandise consigned to Bolivia was on the 
docks at that town, and from another source I 
learned it had been estimated at $30,000,000 gold. 
Well I classed it with the snake stories told me by 
Alfalfa Bill, but decided to get at the truth if possi- 
ble, so called at the consular office about the open- 
ing hour and was most courteously received by Mr. 
Hazeltine. He was good enough to get out the Con- 
sular report and announced that about 305,000 pack- 
ages of merchandise were at Mollendo on broken 
contracts, being the backwash of the armistice. In 
this lot were to be found 29,000 packages of cloth, 
drugs, perfumery and general merchandise ; 
17,000 bags of rice (now ruined,) 90,000 bags of 
sugar, 9,000 cases of soap, milk, wine and lard ; 
8,000 cases kerosene, now much depreciated, and 
2,000 cases automobiles and machinery. At a con- 
servative estimate it will figure close to $20,000,000 
in gold. It would take Bolivia at least five years 
to absorb much of this material, even if trade was 
booming as it did during the last year of the war. 
All of which goes to show a reckless orgy of buy- 
ing on the part of Bolivia, and lack of good judg- 
ment on the part of American manufacturers. This 
can result in but one thing, and that disastrous to 
our interests, unless we in the States are willing 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA AVITH A SAMPLE CASE 103 

to accept and adjust the loss, and exercise proper 
caution in the future. Mr. Hazeltine has set him- 
selt the task of straightening this tangle, and it 
is a man's job. He is hopeful of doing this be- 
cause of the latent possibilities in the country, and 
because of stable government and their friendly 
attitude toward foreign capital, and the people of 
the United States. 

There are several railroad propositions up at this 
time, any one or all of which will prove beneficial 
to the country, and a rich investment, for they 
would be profitable at once. American capital 
could find no richer field than Bolivia. 

An unexpected courtesy was extended me by 
Mr. Easley, who invited me to visit the museum 
with him. Being introduced to Professor Arthur 
Posnansky, we were shown through the building. 
I did not have an opportunity to get the informa- 
tion so much desired, but yesterday, coming up 
from Mr. Easley's office, I met the professor and 
asked if he could give me a little time. He said he 
would be at home at one o'clock, and I was there 
promptly. The building is being constructed along 
lines of Tihuanaca architecture, with many original 
stones and replicas used for ornamentation. As 
shown in all Inca and pre-Inca structures there is 
a total absence of the arch, but these ancient peo- 
ple, nevertheless, had great architectural skill, with 
the sun, moon and stars influencing the plans of 
their temples, at least. The professor has spent 



104 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

ten years in the investigation of the ruins of Tihu- 
anacua, digging, measuring and calculating, until 
he was able to, figuratively speaking, take me by 
the hand and walk with me in a reconstructed city, 
showing me the great panel originally above the 
door of the temple, and yet almost intact, on which 
is carved, in no rude manner, the sun and the 
twelve signs of the zodiac. In his carefully writ- 
ten "Boletin de la Sociedad Geogrofica de la Paz" 
the professor illustrates measurements taken from 
the unearthed ruins of the "temple del Sol," 
and definitely proves the building to have been 
erected so the sun's rays would reach the central 
doorway from the southeast corner on the twenty- 
second of December, which is the point of sum- 
mer, on the twenty-second of September and the 
twenty-first of March the rising sun would line 
through the center of the building, and the point 
of winter solstice would reach the sacred doorway 
from the northeast corner. In the meantime the 
position of the earth has changed so the line is 
shifted eleven minutes, and it only required modest 
calculations to prove the temple was built about 
15,000 years ago. 

After an examination of this interesting data we 
went into the room where the treasures of the an- 
cients are kept, and I was permitted to handle the 
ceremonial cups from which the priests poured 
libations to their gods. On the ones used in the 
sun worship, figures of the Macranchenis (giant 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 105 

llama, now extinct,) were drawn. On cups used 
for the wife of the sun (the moon) the puma is 
shown, and over the rude figures is thrown a glaze 
that has resisted the action of time and contact 
with earth for centuries. One of them is parti- 
cularly Avell preserved, and was used for some 
special purpose or in the worship of some 
minor god. It was the same shape, but instead 
of the llama or puma, it had coiled about the stem, 
and partly up the bowl, a well-defined rattlesnake 
and, cunningly concealed in the stem is a set of 
rattles, which sing as clearly as they did when 
the original owner sent out his friendly warning. 
I was then shown bands of gold, silver and copper, 
with which the heads of the children were bound 
in order to elongate the skull. The three metals 
representing the classes in Tihuanacuan society. 
Quaint figures of beaten gold and odd bits of pot- 
tery were there for my inspection, showing the 
struggle of the human mind to reach a higher 
plane, and, handling these relics of the past, I 
found myself wondering if in their day they had a 
museum in which they had gathered the unearthed 
records of yet another ancient people. Who 
knows? 

The professor was not satisfied with taking me 
back 15.000 years, but told me of his conviction 
that a great continent, such as Donnelly has so 
cleverly described in "Atlantis," had existed in the 
Pacific, the Polynesian group being all that is left 



. 



106 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

of it, and that a part of its people, or what was 
left of them, when the catyclism occurred, left their 
record in the Tihuanacuan ruins. As to their ori- 
gin, the veil will never be lifted, but it is most 
fascinating to speculate on the subject. 







Alcades. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 107 

THE BACKBONE OF THE WORLD. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

We left the station at 3 :30, and the very much 
overloaded engine began to toil its way up the 
side of the canon from La Paz. We did not make 
graceful curves this time, but cut straight on a 
grade all of four and one-half per cent. Shortly 
after leaving the station we passed a brickyard 
in operation, but it was no Harbison-Walker out- 
fit by any means, but rather an exact duplicate of 
the brickyard that gave old Pharaoh so much trou- 
ble, and all that is needed to start a riot in that 
plant would be to cut off the supply of straw, for 
without it brick-making would be a tough prop- 
osition. As we neared the summit we looked 
down on the quaint city, noting the tiny patches 
of leveled and cultivated soil, wondering all the 
time how it could have been planted and by what 
means it would be harvested, but the great ques- 
tion was how the farming could be made to pay, 
for the growth of barley was scant, and the corn 
stunted almost to the point of not being at all. 
The train stopped for a few minutes at the upper 
rim, and the likeness to the Grand Canon of the 
Colorado was marked, save in the absence of in- 
tense color here. The mountains rising from the 



108 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

valley between the city and Illinanu has a stain 
of iron striping its sides, in some places showing 
a bright red, but both sides of the immediate canon 
are grayish yellow rubble, resembling what seems 
to have been a river bed deposit of clay and river 
bed stones to the depth of 1,500 feet, and it will 
doubtless run even deeper in places, for I noted 
the river running through La Paz was still cut- 
ting, and had not reached bed-rock. If the Colo- 
rado ran through this gorge, instead of the modest 
s.tream which comes down from the melting snows, 
it would not be long before the Chinese would 
have water in their cellars, for it would go on 
through. Ten minutes after we left the station all 
traces of the canon had disappeared, and, looking 
back, Illinanu seemed to rise directly from the 
level pampa. After the shadows of evening had 
darkened the pampa the vast snow-clad peak 
caught rays from the setting sun, and reflected a 
rosy glow. A few minutes later the color faded, 
and only a white cloud-like outline was visible in 
the moonlight. 

A very satisfactory dinner was served on the 
dining car, but by 9 :30 we had to go to bed to keep 
from freezing, for it had gotten intensely cold. 
The sleeping car would have been comfortable had 
it been heated, for it was a compartment car, and 
the berth was satisfactory in every way, but at 
Uyuni, where we had to change cars, the water 
tank was frozen solid, so we had to ring for water, 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 109 

but my teeth were rattling by the time my collar 
was buttoned. This place shows the greatest 
change in temperature on the continent ; the rec- 
ord showing seventy-five degrees above at mid- 
day, and thirty degrees below in less than twelve 
hours, which, to my mind, puts it in the class of 
undesirable places of residence. It is a trading 
center for a rather rich mining district, and, as 
such had an excuse for existing. By nine o'clock 
the temperature had risen from far below zero 
to around sixty degrees above, and it was pleasant 
to get off at various stations, so long as we re- 
mained in the sunshine. We soon reached the be- 
ginning of the volcanic district, and cones of vol- 
canic origin were about us in hundreds. In fact we 
ran between a chain of them on either side, and at 
one time we counted no less than thirty-one peaks 
ranging from 1,000 to 4,000 feet above the pampa 
floor. These had built up the general level from 
time to time and some had been active at no very 
remote period. 

The vast pampa, over which we were travelling, 
looked like a field of snow, as there is a heavy de- 
posit of borax over all the land. This snowy 
range, with its border of purple mountains, pre- 
sented a picture most pleasing to the eye. Later 
on we approached the g-reat borax bed, with its 
deposit from three to ten feet in depth, and at that 
time had gotten almost within the shadow of "Olla- 
que" with its steaming crater, whilst above us 



110 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

everywhere was evidence of the awful forces that 
had been, and are still, at work. Just south of 
Ollaque there is a triple cone volcano, now inac- 
tive, but their sides are festooned with lava. At 
one place the flow has started from a narrow neck, 
but found some obstruction, forcing a flow on 
either side, and, in cooling, the lava has formed a 
perfect inverted V. The letter showing red brown 
on a former overflow that had grown black with 
age. On the side of another of this group was a 
great eye, formed by an ash and lava flow around 
a monster boulder. The black boulder made the 
pupil and it was completely surrounded by a ring 
of w r hite ash, and that in turn by darker masses 
of lava, and the illusion was marked. Just south 
of the triple cone is a mountain with the entire 
side blown out, exposing the cup-like wall of the 
crater. The wall must be at least 2,000 feet high, 
and the exposed face is rainbow tinted, showing 
the action of the fires on the metal content of the 
mountain. It would be impossible to describe the 
beauty of it, or convey any idea of its awful gran- 
deur. The volcanos just mentioned range from 
17,000 to 20,000 feet, but dozens of lesser cones 
cluster all about, which, if seen with other sur- 
roundings, would be awe-inspiring, and make poor 
old Vesuvius look like an ant heap. Several of 
these smaller mountains have their sides blown 
out, but show only ugly gashes from which one 
turned with a feeling of depression, for they mark- 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA AVITH A SAMPLE CASE 111 

ed the agony of the mountain with no bright col- 
ors to cover the wound. Climbing steadily from 
the borax field and passing between low foot-hills 
we came in view of the majestic twins "St. Peter 
and St. Paul." St. Paul restful and serene, as be- 
fits one who had kept the faith, whilst old Peter 
is fussing and spouting just as he did when he 
denied the Master. These two mountains are won- 
derfully impressive, and, seeing them once, will 
fix them in the mind of the observer. Just at 
the base of these great mountains is a small and 
perfect truncated cone, rising perhaps 700 feet 
from the general level, and whilst the symmetry 
of this cone is absolutely unbroken, it evidently at 
some time has thrown out millions of tons of 
lava ; the floor being at least half a mile- wide, 100 
feet deep, and two miles long, and yet the mother 
of this one-time fiery serpent looks as innocent and 
quite like one of the Jones & Laughlin mounds of 
iron ore at Woodlawn. Try to think of a view 
made up of the features outlined, with the snow- 
white crystals carpeting the pampa, the low hills 
adjoining covered with a moss and bunch grass 
that mantled them in tourmaline, and a general 
background of cloud-piercing peaks, some inky 
black in the shadows, with ribbons of snow mark- 
ing the crevasses ; other reflecting the sun from 
a riven side, and you have a vision to contemplate 
with reverence. The slanting rays of the descend- 
ing sun crept up from the valleys, casting a halo 



112 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

of glory over the mountain monarchs crowning 
them with golden crowns, which were the last 
to fade as darkness gathered.) and we breathe 
deeply as we do when the curtain drops at the end 
of a great drama. 

The sun went down in a heavy bank of cloud, 
and the sky became entirely overcast for the first 
time in weeks. It was a gloomy outlook from the 
car patform when darkness came on, for no light 
flashed to give us a sense of human companion- 
ship until we came in sight of Chuquicamata. The 
big copper property of the Chili Exploration Com- 
pany is located here, and a few r minutes later we 
pulled in at Calama, after a ride of thirty hours 
along the very backbone of the world. An auto- 
mobile from Chuquicamata was waiting at the sta- 
tion, and whirled me over the ghostly trail to the 
town, where a hot bath and warm room gave 
me the first real comfort known since 
leaving "Quinta Bates," and the break- 
fast call came all too soon. From my window in 
the "Guest House" was presented a view almost 
as brilliant in color as the 'Tainted Desert" seen 
from Grand View at the Grand Canon. There 
was the same iridescent coloring that seemed to 
gather and fade so that one looked upon something 
different every time the glance was shifted. The 
camp is nearly 2,000 feet above Coloma, and about 
12 miles distant, but at best it does not seem more 
than three or four miles. The same deceptive 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 113 

atmosphere is here that we find in Colorado, and 
when one starts out on what appears like a three- 
mile walk to some given object, he had better take 
a camping outfit and three days' grub, if he hopes 
to reach his destination. Justi after lunch Mr. 
Mi (Idle mas, the general superintendent, of the 
mines, stopped by and carried me up to the work- 
ings. Here he presented to my view one of the 
most stupendous operations to be found on the 
globe. In front of the mine office is a mountain 
of copper ore, one and one-eighth of a mile 
long, 1,200 feet wide, and tested to a depth of 1,685 
feet. These measurements "block out" seven hun- 
dred million tons of workable ore, and is a fifty 
million dollar outfit, as it stands. Their present 
plant can handle 14,000 tons of ore daily, but plans 
have been completed which will soon more than 
double their capacity. At the rate of 40,000 tons 
daily they have material enough to keep them go- 
ing for sixty years. In this time they will take 
out about eleven million tons of copper, ninety- 
nine and ninety-four hundredths per cent pure. 

It was a breathless climb from the office to the 
upper level as the elevation is over 10,000 feet, 
but they had touched of! a tunnel mine two days 
before, carrying 204 tons of powder, and this blast 
had torn loose six hundred thousand tons of ore, 
almost all of it ready for the steam shovel to han- 
dle. The shovels were already at work on their 
forty day job, after which there will be another 



114 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

rending of the mountain. We stopped where one 
of these giants was at work. It is a Bucyrus ma- 
chine equipped with Westinghouse motor, and is 
in charge of Mr. Stevens of the Westinghouse 
plant, who is here to get them going properly. The 
working weight of the machine is 325 tons, with 
an 80 foot yard boom, 58 foot dipper step, and a 
scoop that handles 12 tons each dip. I stood above 
where the tunnel had been run, and it was a won- 
derful sight. The wall was about 100 foot face, 
and showed all the rainbow colors of chalconite, 
covelite, brochantite, altacanite and the golden 
glow of iron pyrites mixed with the basic granite. 
The original floor of the tunnel was practically 
clean, the action of the blast being an exaggerated 
dump cart proposition. The track had been remov- 
ed from where the ore fell, and the engineers were 
able to calculate the overflow so accurately that it 
came within ten feet of the railroad ends, without 
covering them at any point. The next day after 
my visit to the mines I was placed in charge of 
Mr. Lambert, and permitted to follow the process 
of copper making from the carload of ore to the 
cold finished ingot. Gondolas carrying seventy 
tons are let down the track to primary crushers 
by gravity. There they are caught by a clever de- 
vice called a "burro," which carries the car into a 
Wellman-Seaver car dumping machine, which pre- 
ceeds to nip, lift and dump contents of same into 
bins above the crusher. The car is as quickly let 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 115 

down on the track and unnipped and shot ahead 
to make room for the next car. Fourteen thous- 
and tons daily pass through the jaws of the two 
mighty crushers, dropping the broken ore upon a 
thirty-six inch conveyor belt 2,220 feet long. This 
carries it to three gyratory machines, and it is 
then conveyed to a battery of thirty-two crushers, 
which prepare it for the 'leaching tanks." These 
tanks are filled with 10,000 tons of powdered ore 
and a solution containing five per cent sulphuric 
acid and one and one-half per cent copper is pour- 
ed over it until submerged. It is kept in this con- 
dition for ten hours. This solution, now heavily 
charged with copper, is drawn off and piped to the 
tank house. The ore is again covered with a 
stronger solution and let stand fifteen hours, af- 
ter which time it is drained and washed. Steam 
shovels then empty the tank ready for another 
charge. The solution from the lee Tung tanks 
undergoes a denaturing process in order to re- 
move the chlorine and other oxides, and is then 
pumped through to the reclamation tanks. One 
set of these tanks holds sheet lead cathodes that 
pick up a thin layer of copper on both sides. These 
in turn are stripped, trimmed and lugged ready to 
be suspended in the tanks for final harvest. 

There is a vast field of the tanks and about 35,000 
kilowats per hour is forced through them, causing 
the copper to adhere to the suspended sheets. The 
tanks are "poled" that is, emptied, every fourteen 



116 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

days, and slabs of nearly pure copper ranging 
around half-inch in thickness are removed. These 
slabs are loaded on dinky trucks and sent down 
the line to the melting house, where 200 tons are 
placed in an oil heated furnace for thirty-six hours. 
In this time all impurities are released and sent 
to the top of the molten mass. A clever set of re- 
volving molds containing four pockets pass un- 
der the outlet of the furnace, and each mold takes 
on four 200 pound ingots, pass over a heavy spray 
of water and are automatically dumped into a wa- 
ter tank that is constantly being renewed to keep 
cool. A lifting table brings the ingots up after a 
few minutes submergence, and men load them on 
waiting tram trucks. After dumping, the molds 
right themselves and men stand by with bone ash 
in solution to paint their sides and bottoms as 
they pass. This insures smooth, clean ingots. 
Running at full capacity, using 14,000 tons of ore 
will produce 180 tons of ninety-nine and six-tenths 
per cent pure copper daily. Figuring the product 
at war-time prices would make one long for a 
block of stock. The past two days spent at 
the mine, and going through the various plants 
brought me in contract with nearly all the officials, 
and I want to express my appreciation of the great 
courtesy extended me every minute of the time. 
Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting the general 
manager, Mr. Ballinger, and found all the kindly 
things said of him fully justified. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA AVITH A SAMPLE CASE 117 

A gale has swept down from the hills all day, 
sending dust and gravel in blinding clouds over 
the camp, blotting out the painted desert and mak- 
ing life miserable for any one exposed to it. The 
past three days have been enjoyable, first because 
of the courtesy extended me by the officials of 
the Copper Company, and, until, today, the place 
has fascinated me by its peculiar charm. Had we 
been able to find a couple of camels we could have 
staged the opening scene of the Garden of Allah 
any evening, as the sun went down, for we had 
the sand dunes, and over all a soft radiance only 
seen in desert lands. Mr. Savage was good enough 
to have me sent over to Calama by auto, and, as 
the gale had subsided, the ride was delightful. A 
glorious moon lit up the scene, and passing clouds 
sent black shadows over the sands, intensifying the 
whiteness where the moonlight shone. Arriving 
at Calama I found no berth to be had in the sleep- 
ing car, and was prepared to face a cold night's 
ride, but a good Samaritan happened along in the 
person of Mr. Walter Hughes, a broker from Anto- 
fogasta, and he said "come into the dining car 
with me ; I know the conductor, and we will get 
things fixed up." When the train left the station 
the conductor came in and Mr. Hughes asked him 
to have a bed made up on the floor of his com- 
partment, which, after a protest, he agreed to do. 
We then sat down to an agreeable visit until time 
to retire. About 11 o'clock Mr. Hughes announc- 



118 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

ed it was time to turn in, and bade me good-night, 
saying he would be out of the way in about ten 
minutes, and for me to then come to bed. Perhaps 
you can imagine my surprise when I opened the 
door to find him rolled up in a blanket on the 
floor. I protested most vigorously, but was told 
to keep quiet and not disturb him and the other 
passengers in compartment, as they were both 
tired and sleepy. A further protest from me 
brought forth a "simulated snore" and I finally tum- 
bled into a comfortable bed, and was soon asleep. 
I was awakened by a lilting Scotch song to find 
Hughes up and dressed, and the train almost at 
Antofogasta. There are times when we think this 
old world a selfish proposition, but such incidents 
as this renews our faith and establishes the fact that 
u £ood Indians" are not all dead. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 119 

PIRATES, ANCIENT AND MODERN. 

CHAPTER IX. 

It was pleasing to see paved streets and a bit 
of spontaneous green once more after weeks spent 
in a treeless, grassless, and waterless country. The 
hills surrounding- Antofogasta are brown and 
bare, but it rains here once in a while, and. Na- 
ture being quick to respond, there may be such a 
thing as a green hill at times. There is a good 
roadway, partly landlocked, and a number of ships 
are riding at comparatively safe anchorage. Car- 
goes are scarce just now, for the nitrate fields are 
shut down. Unfortunately this is the only source 
of business life in the town, and the trade is mourn- 
ful. When I tried to sell the International Ma- 
chinery Company a couple of tons of babbitt metal 
and a carload of belting the manager looked at me 
pityingly as if he thought my stay in high altitudes 
had seriously affected my brain. There is much 
United States merchandise here that has been re- 
fused by the trade, but the situation is not as seri- 
ous as it is at Mollendo, nor will the ultimate loss 
be as great in proportion, for all this will be taken 
out when the exchange is favorable and trade im- 
proves with the opening of the nitrate fields. This 
is sure to come soon, for the world needs this pro- 



120 AROUXD SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

duct, and this is the world's supply house. The 
usual courtesy was extended by the Grace people, 
and Mr. Jonas placed their launch at my disposal. 
He, and my good friend Hughes, came off to the 
ship, bidding me "God-speed" for Valparaiso. The 
cruise down the coast was uneventful, although we 
made brief stops at Taltal, Chanaral, Caldera, 
Huasco and Coquimbo. The abrupt headlands of 
the upper coast have given place to receding 
mountains, with a stretch of rolling country be- 
tween them and the sea. The xA.merican Smelting 
& Refining Company, have a plant at Caldera, and 
it seemed to be in operation, but the shore looked 
unalluring. 

The ship made her way slowly through a dense 
fog to our anchorage at Coquimbo. and everyone 
decided on a shore visit. In the town the view was 
limited to half a city block, but the muddy streets 
were plain enough. We plowed through them 
from end to end of town, seeing some modest 
stores by getting close to them, but nothing call- 
ing for the second glance. By the time we got 
back to the ship the fog had lifted so we were 
able to discover some attractive features in the 
town, but doubtless it was a case of distance lend- 
ing enchantment. This is perhaps the best harbor 
on the entire west coast, and is therefore winter 
quarters for the Chilian navy. They must wish 
themselves at Guantanamo, for the fog blanket 
hangs sodden over this place throughout the win- 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 121 

ter, and under such conditions a warship is the 
most dismal place to be found, either afloat or 
ashore. 

Before sailing time the fog had entirely lifted, 
permitting us to look out over the first green fields 
that had blessed our eyes since leaving Panama, 
for whilst there were fields a plenty around Lima, 
the grass and plants were dust dimmed. There 
were trees to be seen, also, promiscuous like, so 
one felt they could get on friendly terms with them. 
A sight of green things during the past ten weeks 
has recalled the moon flower vine and nine blades 
of grass I found the negro soldiers standing guard 
over at de Arr in South Africa. They were the 
town's most precious possessions, and there are 
places in Peru and Bolivia, where if they could 
grow a moon vine and as many as three blades of 
grass, they would put the entire standing army on 
guard. Rain falls regularly in this section, and 
we no longer get our binoculars out when a dark 
spot appears on the hillside near the water, in 
order to see if it is really a clump of trees. 

The Corderillos have been kept in sight, but they 
are far inland now, and their snow-clad peaks fre- 
quently mingle with the clouds and are lost to 
view. The first sight of Valparaiso is quite im- 
pressive, but is greatly overdrawn in various de- 
scriptions I have read. To liken it to Naples is to 
compare "Little Jim" park with the Schenley. Of 
course these highly colored pen pictures make good 



122 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

reading, and few people can hope to "check up." 
True, there is the wide sweep of the bay, but the 
shore line is broken and irregular, and there is no 
white sand beach with blue water in artistic con- 
trast. The several bluffs over which the city is 
scattered present a rugged appearance. The one 
really beautiful feature is to take the trip on one 
of the many "Ascensors" after nightfall. From the 
top of any one of the bluffs there is an unbroken 
view of the town below, with Vina del Mar in the 
distance. Lights on vessels in the harbor and the 
city streets are all aglow ; it can then be compared 
with Naples as seen from St. Elmo at the same 
hour, but daylight quickly dispels the illusion. 
Here mighty Aconcaqua lifts his eternal snows 
24,000 feet, but it is 200 miles to the north, and 
cloud-capped three-fourths of the time, whilst 
Vesuvius is seldom lost to view. And although 
Aconcagua has been a tremendous volcano, it has 
no Pompeii or Herculaneum lying buried at its feet 
to wrap it about with a halo of romance. 

Perhaps I should have written my impressions 
of the town before making the trip to Vina del 
Mar. If such a road led to paradise no one would 
get there unless they owned a Ford car. It can 
only be spoken of as a bottomless pit of soft mud, 
filled in at places with the carcass of some poor 
horse who has given up the struggle, and it is a pity 
the driver did not lie down quietly along with his 
horse, thereby getting out of a bad job and saving 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 123 

funeral expenses, for the body would never be dis- 
covered. Several things have happened which 
leave a bad impression, and are worth noting. A 
telegram from Santiago to a shipping agency 
brought a reply saying the fare to Punta Arenas 
was $250.00 gold. Arriving at Valparaiso I called 
at the office for my ticket, and, asking for the bill, 
was told it was 500 pesos, which I paid. Leaving 
the office I began to do a little mental arithmetic, 
but could not figure out how $200.00 in gold made 
500 pesos. Returning to the Grace Company's 
office the proposition was put up to the cashier, 
and I was told it was equivalent to $437.50 at the 
day's exchange. I hustled back to the steamship 
office and put in my claim for $62.50, but was told 
the original quotation was only a figure of speech, 
and used in quoting only, but in buying, 500 pesos 
was the price, and I was given to understand this 
was final. I demanded to see the general manager, 
and was told he would not be in until 10 :30. When 
he arrived he pompously informed me the price 
paid was correct. The argument for the next few 
minutes will not pass the censor, but it wound up 
by me saying, "All right, we will let it go at that 
but the chapter in my book, dealing with the pur- 
chase of a ticket to Punta Arenas will not make 
very cheerful reading for your friends." Ten min- 
utes later $62.50 was handed over with an expres- 
sion of regret because of the error that had been 
made. This is another evidence of the power of 
the press. 



124 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

The first night here I had dinner at the Troca- 
dero. I was hungry and ordered a real dinner, 
without looking at the prices of each item. It 
took me ten days to recover from the shock when 
the bill was handed me. It would not do to show 
the price of that dinner on my expense account, 
for the office would want to know what show 
was in town ; how many chorus girls they carried, 
and if the wine was not rather expensive in Val- 
paraiso. In fact everything one is called upon to 
buy causes a mild attack of heart failure when 
prices are quoted. It is strange that a community 
will systematically set out to leave a bad taste in 
the mouths of their visitors. It would be more 
profitable to tote fair, for I would go around look- 
ing like Hank Dewberry before having any clothes 
pressed here at the prices they charge, and a less 
expensive place has been found to eat. Neverthe- 
less it is not all to the bad. There are a num- 
ber of fine people here, and they helped make my 
stay pleasant. The courtesy of the Union Club 
was extended by Mr. Baird of the Du Pont Nitrate 
Company, and many delightful lunches were en- 
joyed with him. July Fourth gave us the first 
clear day in three weeks, and it was celebrated by 
a tour of the town. We started early and visited 
the several public buildings of note. Many of 
these are of recent date, for the earthquake of 
1906 shook the eternal daylight out of things. It 
is surprising that any of the city was left standing, 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 125 

for the conformation of the land lends itself to aid 
the destructive elements of an earthquake. Many 
of the buildings are tacked on the hillside, and the 
bay would concentrate a tidal wave, beautifully 
sending' the flood where it would do the most good 
along the line of least resistance. Both nature 
and men have raided the place repeatedly, for it 
has been under the guns of Drake, Hawkins, and 
the Dutch Admiral Van Noort at different times, 
all of whom were more or less piratical, and this 
may, in a measure, account for the "hold-up" being 
practiced in the town at this late day. 

I was shown the blue-prints, and later looked 
over the work being done to improve the harbor, 
but they will never carry it through sufficiently to 
make the anchorage safe. If they will construct 
docks along the water-front, with a breakwater 
massive enough to take the shock of a norwester 
they will be successful ; otherwise there should be 
extra insurance on ships trading at that port. The 
Naval Academy dominates the city from its point 
of vantage atop one of the highest hills. It is 
spoken of as being imposing, and if it was the 
private house of a successful brewer it could be 
classed as such, but it does not look in the least 
like a school or academy. Benches are arranged 
around the grounds, and one can rest and enjoy a 
pleasing view out over the waters of the bay 
and ocean. Returning to the city on a tram cai- 
rn charge of a "conductorette" I witnessed an 



126 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

amusing incident. The street car capacity is 
limited, and if it is loaded no more passengers are 
allowed on board. The lady captain stepped in- 
side for a moment and three men boarded the car. 
When she came back to the platform and counted 
noses she discovered one too many, and prompt- 
ly stopped the car, politely requesting the offender 
to discontinue his ride. An animated argument 
followed, which finally brought a policeman on the 
scene. Then the fun began. Three men had board- 
ed the car during her absence, and there was no 
way for her to decide which was the last to step 
up. In the meantime a string of cars and auto- 
mobiles a mile long had jammed behind, and start- 
ed their infernal klaxons going, and pandemonium 
was loose. The arguments were interesting but 
the horns were too much for me, so I left the car, 
thereby establishing harmonious relations between 
the public and the corporation. People cheered 
vociferously, but they were not the cheers that 
greet a conqueror. There is no telling what a 
klaxon horn will make me do. 

A reception was held at the American consulate 
this afternoon, where all the American colony and 
passing strangers from home foregathered to drink 
a toast to the Flag, the ladies, and the signing of 
the peace treaty, and to the utter confusion of any 
and all who would dare to pull the tail feathers of 
the Eagle. Admiral Nicholson and his charming- 
wife were present, and we were soon discussing 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 127 

the winter of 76, for I happened to recall that we 
had been shipmates on the "Hartford" at that 
time. The broad stripes on his sleeve has not al- 
tered the genial nature so well remembered. He 
has been on duty here for eighteen months and is 
a great favorite in both official and social circles. 
For the time being both of us forgot our gray hairs 
and wrinkles and were boys again on the old Hart- 
ford battling with Boreas. They speak of that 
winter in Norfolk to this day and everyone on the 
Hartford remembers the near-tragedy when one of 
our steam launches got adrift in the wildest of our 
winter storms. The two men in her faced death 
for three days, but were finally saved by heroic 
effort of the corvette Swatara. Our meeting open- 
ed a flood-gate of memory, and we could have talk- 
ed for a week. 

Our ship was supposed to sail today, but a heavy 
sea has been coming in for three days, making it 
impossible to handle cargo, so we are now booked 
for the ninth. 



128 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

SANTIAGO AND THE PINK MOUNTAINS. 
CHAPTER X. 

We were up early for the morning train to San- 
tiago, and it was a wretched experience, for no cab 
or taxi was available to take us to the station, thus 
giving a long walk with heavy grips to carry, and 
not a restaurant open, where we could get a cup 
of coffee. We were well on our way before the 
sun came up, but it did not cheer us much, for we 
were cold and hungry. But "Santiago the Beauti- 
full" was our promised reward, so hunger and cold 
were forgotten when we reached the city. It 
was a general holiday, and all business houses 
were closed. The city is beautiful under leaden 
skies and almost continual downpour of rain, for 
the streets are well paved and clean. Tropic and 
semi-tropic trees and flowers adorn the many pub- 
lic plazas and surround the public buildings. It 
is a "real city" with public buildings of the finest 
type, up-to-date stores, attractive homes, some of 
them palaces, first-class street car service, and fair- 
ly good hotels. The Alameda is the show place 
It is called an avenue, but is in fact a park three 
miles long and 325 feet wide. Four rows of Lom- 
bardy poplars line the driveway and walks. Flow- 
ers, no doubt, add further beauty in their season. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 120 

Between each cross street is found from one to 
three statues or monuments erected in honor of 
some Chilian patriot, with an Irish name, or to 
commemorate some decisive battle for Chilian 
freedom. The most important of these statues 
shows General "Barney" O'Higgins astride his 
war horse riding over the body of a prostrate foe. 
It is artistic, but rather over-heroic. Another 
splendid "man on horseback" is the statue of 
General de San Martin. No doubt he was plain 
Joe Martin when he left Ireland, but he carved out 
the title of the "Hannibal of the Andes" with his 
good sword. He rank^ with Bolivar in South 
America's struggle for freedom, being the libera- 
tor of his native Argentine, and the Lafayette of 
Chili. And his was a most heroic task, for he 
marched his troops over snow-clad mountains, 
successfully joined forces with his compatriot, 
O'Higgins, and made a Yorktown for Chili. These 
people can never pay their debt to these two sons 
of the "Green Isle." Another Irishman whose 
name is reverenced is Don Benjamin Mackenna. 
He conceived the idea and carried out the plan 
of walling in the waters of the Rio Mapocho, and 
parking the banks for more than a mile. This al- 
so is a thing of beauty, and must be a joy forever 
to the kiddies. The art gallery is located mid- 
way of this park or avenida, and is a beautiful 
building. It houses a few of the Old Masters and 
many excellent works of local artists. The build- 



130 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

ing also contains an extensive museum, showing- 
arms and uniforms of Chilian warriors, with tro- 
phies and battle flags taken from Peru and Bolivia 
in some of their scraps. There is a vast amount 
of this material, for these people are a warlike 
race, maintaining the traditions of Valdivia, who 
successfully fought for and founded this city, near- 
ly four hundred years ago. His initial success was 
largely due to a freak of nature, for, rising from 
the level plain, now in the heart of the city, is a 
rugged rock pile four hundred feet high. This 
was a natural fort, which was easily made im- 
pregnable against the assault of the Indians, but 
only by hardy endurance was it saved from be- 
coming a graveyard for the Spanish invaders. 
Mackenna made of this place a perfect paradise, 
and presented it to the city. Winding walks and 
rustic stairways, bordered with rich foliage, lead 
to the summit, and at the very top stands a statue 
of Valdivia, with tablet reading: "On this spot, 
the first Governor of Chili encamped with one 
hundred and fifty conquerors on the 13th of De- 
cember, 1540, giving to these rocks the name of 
Santa Lucia, and forming of them a bulwark." 
This same bulwark was all that saved them six 
months later, for the Indians made original ma- 
terial out of the mud huts they had built at the 
foot of the rock. Nearly all the people escaped 
death by getting into the fort on the hill. At this 
time, according to tradition, was created another 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 131 

"Joan de Arc" in the person of Dona Inez Suarez, 
who bestrode a war horse and led the handful of 
soldiers against the Indians and broke the block- 
ade. 

Shortly afterwards Pizarro sent relief and the 
town was once more rebuilt ; this time to stay, 
with more or less vicissitudes. A drill ground was 
laid out in the center of the town, which is now 
the beauty spot known as the "Plaza da Armas." 
x\t one corner of this square a primitive church 
was erected, and on the original site now stands 
one of the finest cathedrals in South America. On 
a jutting rock point just below the statue of Val- 
divia is a beautiful bronze of the famous Indian 
chief Caupolican, who was in command of the 
Araucanian when Valdivia was killed. Evidently 
he was another Osceola and a gallant warrior, to 
be so honored. It is pleasing to note the tribute 
to a dead race, and, in a measure, it is an offset 
to the gruesome picture of the manacled Inca 
Athahuallpa measuring the wall to indicate the 
amount of gold he would give for his freedom, 
and Pizarro's broken promise. Fortunately for us 
we had Cooper to write us up, and we have the 
"Leather Stocking Tales." Had someone with 
Prescott's pitiless, but facile pen, written up the 
Rouge River episode in our Indian annals, it would 
require more than a statue to Logan to take the 
bad taste out of our mouths. 

I attended service at the cathedral this morning 



132 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

and seldom have listened to a more impressive ser- 
vice. In the first place the interior of the church 
is superb in its appointments. It is absolutely free 
from blood-stained horrors that shock us so pain- 
fully in Peru and Bolivia. Here the shrines are 
pure and artistic. Some of the large draperies are 
rather colorful, but they blend happily with the 
immensity of the structure. The altar ornaments 
in the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament are made of 
solid silver, massive in proportion and wonderfully 
carved. The sacristan tells me they were placed 
here over two hundred years ago. An intensely 
interesting story is told of the organ also. It was 
being sent to Australia many years ago for the 
English church at Melbourne, but the ship carry- 
ing- it was wrecked in the Straits. The organ was 
saved intact, and later erected here. It is a won- 
derful instrument, and the operator touches the 
keys with the same tender caress noted in the 
work of Professor Bell on the organ in Dr. Alex- 
ander's church in Pittsburgh. A highly trained 
choir of two hundred male voices rendered the 
responses and then gave a song service. It is even 
finer than the service in St. Paul's at London, and 
I did not think that could be excelled. It is no 
wonder a great congregation of over 2,000 were 
there to worship, for it was worthy throughout. 
Doubtless many of these devout worshippers, my- 
self included, were out at the race track this after- 
noon, betting their fool heads off on their favorite 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 133 

horse, all of which is hard for a Gringo to reconcile 
with our feeling relative to Sunday sports. But 
of course it all depends on the point of view. 

Last Thursday was Corpus Christi, and the ser- 
vices were specially elaborate. Of course every- 
body went to the races that afternoon. I never 
watched better racing, nor did I ever see such a 
beautiful race track. The setting is perfect and 
equipment complete. I picked four winners (?) and 
backed each with ten pesos so as to have some per- 
sonal interest in the events. Incidentally I may re- 
mark that each horse bet on was in the "also ran" 
class. Hanson was with me, and wanting to en- 
courage me, offered to bet the sun would rise on 
schedule time tomorrow morning, but knowing a 
permanent eclipse would be staged if I accepted the 
bet I refused to plunge the world in darkness. Yes- 
terday afternoon the clouds all cleared away, giv- 
ing us a chance to see the full beauty of the beauti- 
ful place, and it gave me an opportunity to see a 
rare sight. I climbed to the summit of San Lucia 
and from there watched the shadows from the 
western range creep over the plain, cover the 
city and climb the side of the mighty Corderillos 
to the east. The heavy storms of the past week 
enveloped the range in a mantle of snow, almost 
down to the level of the plain, and the rays of the 
setting sun lit this with an unearthly glory. When 
I first reached the hill top the snow shone like 
burnished silver, but when the shadows gathered, 



134 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

this silvery drapery changed, first to pearly gray, 
then it took on a peach bloom pink, growing deeper 
in color until the summit became blood-red, and 
these blood-red peaks were clearly outlined against 
a sky of translucent turquoise. The picture will 
never leave me, nor will I ever see anything so 
beautiful short of the Throne of Go 1. 

Yesterday morning I was up at 5 o'clock, and, 
after a cheerless breakfast in my bedroom, and a 
rickety ride through a downpour of rain, I reached 
the (wrong) station en route to Los Andes. Either 
my Spanish was at fault, or the Ford engineer was 
sleepy, and a perilious ride to the other station was 
necessary. It was nearly two miles and only eight 
minutes to make it, so it was a case of "muy pronto." 
The driver understood that time and he sure made 
it pronto all right. The streets were slippery as 
ice, and when we negotiated a curve I thanked 
heaven the streets were wide and traffic light. At 
one point the warning clangor of a street car gong 
suggested caution to the driver. The next thing I 
knew we had turned completely around and were 
going the other way, as if the Old Nick was after 
us. By the time power was shut off and we had 
headed the right way, the street car had passed, 
and the maniac at the wheel proceded to make up 
lost time. I made the train with three-sixteenths 
of a second to the good, and am convinced the 
"Old Master" has work for me to do in the world, 
or that would have been my last earthly ride. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 135 

The gray dawn presented a dreary scene. The 
continued rains had made a sodden swamp of the 
landscape, and bedraggled citizens hanging around 
the stations where we stopped did not improve the 
"ensemble." # We changed cars at Llay-Llay and 
running the length of the valley of the same name, 
landed at Los Andes at 11:30. I thought it had 
rained whilst I was en route to the station in 
Santiago, but it was only a little shower. Here it 
really and truly rained. It eased off to the modest 
shower experienced in the early morning hours, 
and I was able to wade to the shops of the Trans- 
Andean railroad. Every courtesy was shown me 
by the general manager, Mr. Woodbridge, and the 
chief engineer, Mr. Fishwick. Later on I enjoyed 
a cup of tea in Mr. Cave's office, where a real fire 
was burning in a big open grate. I immediately 
joined the host of Zoroaster and became a fire- 
worshipper, for the balance of the afternoon. The 
tea, the fire and Mr. Cave's genial companionship 
g'ave me the first thoroughly comfortable period 
I had enjoyed since leaving Mollendo. 

Mr. Woodbridge tells me this is the most severe 
winter they have had in fourteen years. The road 
has been blocked since the 16th of May, and no 
prospect of being open until September. I sug- 
gested to Mr. Woodbridge that a few snowsheds 
and tunnels might improve the situation, and he 
told me plans to that end had been made and that 
as soon as the Chilian and Argentine governments 



136 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

agreed upon these plans the present perils and de- 
lays would be at an end. I very much wish these 
plans had been carried out before my visit, for 
the blockade compells me to make the trip through 
the Straits of Magellan. But it cannot be any 
more uncomfortable than my ride to Los Andes, 
nor more perilous than my ride between stations 
this morning, so why worry. Reaching Santiago 
at one A. M., and feeling very much alive, after the 
strenuous day, I believed myself equal to round- 
ing Cape Horn in a wind-jam'mer, if neeed be. 
Not only is Santiago an attractive city, but it is 
also a great business center. There are many 
stores that will compare favorably with our own, 
and many industries are located here. One of them 
comes in competition with me, in that a fairly good 
leather belt is made in the town, but we have a 
good trade established already, and it sure to 
grow. The metal outlook is also good, being han- 
dled by the International Machinery Company. 
The manager, Mr. Jory, and his staff, did every- 
thing possible to further our interests throughout 
the country. 

The sun came out gloriously just as the train 
was leaving Santiago yesterday, making the part- 
ing scene one fair to behold. Heavy broken clouds, 
the color of ashes of roses, banked the mountain 
side, but allowed the snow-clad peaks to show 
like cut and burnished silver against 
the azure sky. Had the past week been 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 137 

like yesterday afternoon, I would have found 
some excuse to stay on for at least another month. 
But a continuation of such weather as we have had 
during the past ten days would make me lose faith 
in a benign Providence. An hour's ride across 
the valley brought us to the foot-hills. They soon 
shut out the view of all save the lofty mountains, 
and they seemed to get no farther away until a 
lesser mountain range shut off the view entirely 
The train followed the winding course of the fussy 
little river, and what a time it was having! The 
rains of the past week had made the little rascal 
feel his importance,' and he whirled and gurgled 
and danced and sparkled. At one place he tried to 
make a big noise for large stones had tried to block 
his way. 

We finally reached the summit of the middle 
range, passed through the gateway of the giant 
boulders, and looked down upon the Llay-Llay 
valley. It is level, and seemingly as smooth as a 
ballroom floor, and shut in on all sides by lofty 
mountains ; some of them snowclad. It is certain- 
ly a gem, and was but one of a series, Calera, Qui- 
lotta, San Pedro, and Limachi. All are located in 
perfect little nests from which one would think all 
evil things were shut out. Finally el Salto, the 
sharp dip to sea level, Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. 



138 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

THE BIG STORM. 

CHAPTER XL 

"Cease rude Boreas, blustering railer, 

List ye landsmen all to me. 
Messmates, hear a brother sailor 

Sing the dangers of the sea." (Old Song.) 

The bad weather that had held us for five days 
at Valparaiso let up yesterday morning, and the 
"Chiloe" was able to finish taking cargo. At mid- 
night we slipped moorings and started on our long 
journey to Punta Arenas. I looked up the chief 
engineer soon as I got on board, and after intro- 
ducing myself said, "Well, Chief, what kind of a trip 
are we going to have?" He looked at me for a 
moment as if trying to discover if I was timid, and 
then said, "Good Lord, man, didn't you see the three 
padres come on board?" I said, "Yes, are they go- 
ing with us?" The expression on his face did not 
indicate much reverence for the cloth, and his an- 
swer was, "Yes, they are going with us, and we 
are going to have a hell of a time." There had 
been quite a storm for several days but only a 
modest sea was running as we rounded the point. 
We had a most comfortable night, for the ship was 
loaded to the guards, which will insure smooth 
sailing unless we strike unusually heavy weather. 



Around south America with a sample case 139 

We have congratulated ourselves today (July 10th) 
for having gotten clear of, and even escaping the 
bad effects of the storm. Just before leaving 
Valparaiso I bought a copy of the Sunday Times of 
June 1st; it being the latest edition from the States. 
It had the details of our conquest of the Atlantic 
by airship, and it made good reading. It is a pity 
the journey was broken, but nevertheless it was 
our own Read of the navy who blazed the way for 
Kipling's Night Mail. Events move swiftly these 
days and we will soon be booking passage for Eu- 
rope via the "Sky Line Limited." I was awakened 
in the morning by rain driving into my porthole 
and found we had anchored during the night. The 
rain was coming down in sheets, but no wind, so 
I fastened my port and turned over for another 
wink of sleep. When the steward called me I 
thought we had put to sea again, for we were listed 
over as if a gale on the port beam was blowing. 
Dressing quickly I went on deck to face a smother 
of rain and a gale blowing. All anchors were down 
and steam on in case she drifted. We were inside a 
"bight," the end of which was decorated with what 
is left of a good ship that had sought shelter from 
just such a storm as this but had made a bad cal- 
culation. We were fairly well sheltered, but there 
were times when I earnestly hoped the anchor 
chain maker who furnished our outfit had been 
sober when he made the chain, and had carefully 
selected the material, for we had a "lee-shore" 



140 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

with a surf curling on it that looked as if it had 
teeth in it. All of yesterday, and until two this 
morning the wind simply howled and the rain 
fell in driving sheets. I was glad to find the 
storm had practically subsided at 8 o'clock, for we 
are to take on coal here at Caronel, and I planned 
to go inland to Concepcion and join the ship at 
Talcahuana. Clouds were dense and threatening, 
but the bay was relatively quiet. I was anxious to 
see the lighters come off promptly, for there is now 
a margin of only one day to make connection with 
the north-bound boat at Punta Arenas. Before a 
lighter got started the storm broke over us again, 
completely blotting out sight of land, and at the 
same time blasting all hopes for steamer connec- 
tion. Caronel is a noted place, for it is just off 
this port the first naval engagement of the great 
war took place. It was here the English and Ger- 
man fleets met, and somewhere just beyond the 
gray skyline, the Monmouth and Good Hope went 
down with colors flying. A chap tells me Von Spee 
visited the club in Valparaiso the next night after 
the fight, and boasted that he could and would fin- 
ish off the balance of the British fleet in the same 
quick time. But the chill waters of the South 
Atlantic soon closed over his ships and him, and 
silenced forever his boasting tongue. There is 
no pity in the hearts of men when they think of 
his fate, for he would allow no effort to be made 
to rescue his gallant foes. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 141 

This is the coal center of Chili, but there is no 
evidence of it being a "Coaling Center." Certainly 
there are no Brown hoisting machinery coal-car 
dumping devices in sight, and there will be no load- 
ing at the rate of 1,000 tons per hour when we do 
begin. We are anchored in a little bay partly 
sheltered by a curving shore line, and further 
protected by the large island of Santa Maria, which 
breaks the great rollers that seem to breed in 
these waters. Even during- the severe storm of 
Friday and Friday night there was no heavy sea 
running; and we soon had cause to thank Heaven 
for this shelter, for Saturday afternoon the. real 
storm hit us, and the next thirty-six hours were 
highly sensational. Several ships sought shelter 
here Saturday afternoon, and we had some neigh- 
bors Sunday morning altogether too near for our 
peace of mind, for every ship was tugging at its 
anchor, and swinging wildly in the gale. The Paci- 
fic Steam Navigation ship Chili lay just ahead of 
us, and the collier Puno just ahead of her. At 
11 o'clock Sunday morning the Puno began to 
drift, and there was a breathless moment when she 
collided with the Chili. It looked like a real smash 
for a while, but the Chili paid out anchor chains 
rapidly and the Puno cleared with but little dam- 
age to either ship. In the meantime the gale had 
increased, and, with the exception of the pampero 
I experienced in Montivideo years ago and the 
cyclone in St. Louis, I have never known it to blow 



142 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

so 'hard. The storm would pause as if to gather 
force. Then it would come down on us, shrieking 
as if all the fiends of the nether world had gotten 
together to overwhelm us. These seething blasts 
would sweep over us, followed by a lull, and come 
again with greater fury, and so the day passed in 
our battle with the elements. Newspapers from 
Concepcion reached us Monday with incomplete 
accounts of the disaster along the coast. The road- 
stead at Valparaiso has been swept clean of all 
vessels. Twenty-three large ships were either 
sent to the bottom or on the rocks. Launches 
and freight barges were lifted over the sea wall 
and dropped into the streets of the city. Two and 
one-half million dollars damage is reported in Val- 
paraiso alone, with other ports to hear from. It 
is one of the greatest storms on record, and the 
total loss will be appalling. 

Ever since the famous missionary tried to avoid 
service in Nineveh and did penance in the whale's 
belly, pious sailors have made the sign of the cross 
and whispered a prayer, whilst the impious ones 
have cussed outright whenever a priest takes pas- 
sage on a ship, and the superstition holds good in 
our case. Our three priests are booked for Buenos 
Aires, which means I am in for a dickens of a time, 
in case old Jonah did pass the buck to his suc- 
cessors. Of course it is only a coincidence, but it 
is nevertheless strange that when it became quiet 
enough for boats to come out to us Sunday after- 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 143 

noon and the padres left us there was no renewal 
of the storm. By midnight all the storm clouds 
had cleared away and a glorious full moon lit up 
a scene that, except for the surf thundering on the 
shore, would indicate "peace on earth, good will to- 
ward men." Monday morning the sun came up in a 
cloudless sky and the work of taking on coal be- 
gan. We were doing so nicely that I commented 
on our progress to one of our ship's officers, and 
he said, "Yes, and if the blooming sandal-footed 
saints, bad luck to them, (here he crossed him- 
self, for he is a good Catholic) only happen to get 
side-tracked in Concepcion until we sail, sure I'll 
thank Heaven, for we are not likely to make Punta 
Arenas before next Christmas if they get back." 
Taking on the coal was a slow process, and work 
had to stop at sundown which means another day 
here. But the padres are still on shore and we 
have prospects of fair weather until the coal is 
loaded. We can then be on our way, and perhaps 
make the channel before another storm breaks. 

We finished coaling late Wednesday night and 
got under way to Talcahuana in good shape "sin 
padres." Here we learned of further disaster in 
Valparaiso, and the storm of the night before, 
which, however, did not reach us, had. sent $20,- 
000,000 worth of wheat and other merchandise to 
the bottom at this port, but no large vessels were 
lost. One of the Valparaiso papers announced the 
sinking of the Chiloe, with all on board, and, fear- 



144 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA AVITH A SAMPLE CASE 

ing word would reach the States and have my 
friends investing in crepe arm decorations, I ca- 
bled New York that all was well, and asked them to 
send word down the line to the anxious ones. The 
last report we have from Valparaiso tells of 200,- 
000,000 pesos (about $45,000,000) damage, and a 
record of over 200 lives lost in that harbor alone, 
with no definite word from other sections. When 
the story is all told it will record a greater dis- 
aster to Chili than the earthquake which visited 
Valparaiso and vicinity in 1906. And, no doubt, 
the destruction of property in Valparaiso alone 
will be nearly as great, with a vast coast line af- 
fected. The captain told me he would not sail 
without me in case I wished to visit Concepcion, 
so after sending my cable and paying a visit to 
Grace & Co., I boarded the trolley for the inland 
town. Flooded fields and roadways, with broken 
telegraph poles told the story of the storm all 
along the line, but the town of Concepcion evi- 
dently did not suffer much. Had it not been such 
a black day I would doubtless have found it an at- 
tractive town, but it began to rain heavily, so I 
returned in the same car, arriving on board in time 
for lunch. 

Talcahuana is the naval dockyard of Chili, and 
I would like to have looked it over, but the streets 
were full of mud, and rain falling at intervals, so 
I did not go on shore again, although we did not 
sail until evening. During the afternoon the chief 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 145 

engineer and idoctdr were having- rifle practice 
with the pretty little diver ducks that were dotting 
the water everywhere. The chief succeeded in 
wounding one and tried several more shots to put 
it out of its misery, but could not make a hit. I 
then had a try but it had gotten too far away. In 
a minute or two it was joined by its mates and I 
watched them with a pain in my heart because of 
the suffering a thoughtless shot had caused. At 
6 P. M., we got under way, but the padres were 
on board, and we had only gotten clear of the 
sheltering land when we butted into as ugly a 
sea as one could imagine. Fortunately dinner was 
over or we would have had as much difficulty keep- 
ing food on the tables, as most of the ship's com- 
pany had in keeping it on their stomachs later on. 
It was necessary to batten down, with all portholes 
closed, so I stayed up until the lights went out. 
By that time I was sleepy and had a good night, 
although the cabin was stuffy. The bath next 
morning was an heroic game, but I got through 
at last and came on deck to find it clearing up a 
bit, and the ship making good headway. At 2 P. 
M., we reached Corral, the port of Valdivia, but 
the anchor had only just reached bottom when an- 
other one of those gentle showers, so numerous 
the last few days, blotted out the sight of land 
and sent all of us to cover. The captain told me 
we would sail at four this morning, but he evident- 
ly had forgotten our Jonahs, for it is now noon. 



146 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

and we are still "safe within the vale," and an- 
other norther tearing things to pieces. If these 
padres are wise they will begin praying for three 
big good-natured whales to arrive in this vicinity, 
for there will be a job for them sure if this thing 
keeps up. 

It was 6 P. M., Saturday, after a twenty-eight 
hour stay at Corral, before the captain felt he 
could take the risk of leaving port, and we had 
only cleared the headlands before people on board 
were wishing we did not have such a brave com- 
mander, for we surely hit the real thing in short 
order. Just as she began to lift and fall good and 
proper, the dinner gong sounded. Only four passen- 
gers came to the table, and one of them beat a 
hasty retreat. Mr. Burbury, Riddle and myself 
stuck it out, but ate literally from hand to mouth, 
for the steward would bring one order, and we held 
it in our hand until finished, for nothing could be 
left standing on the table for a moment. Taking 
it all through the scout boats in the North Sea 
during a winter storm had nothing on us by way 
of sensational dining. After dinner I tried to read, 
but would have to be fastened in to keep my seat, 
so at nine o'clock I turned in and experienced one 
of the wildest nights I have ever spent on the 
ocean. Our ship rode like a duck, but even a duck 
can get his tail feathers ruffled at times, and we 
certainly did get hammered. I was on the lee side, 
and when a sea would hit her, the berth would 
literally go out fro.m under me, giving me the sen- 















a 



11111 




- 




AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 147 

sation of flying through the air. When I would 
settle down I would feel a shiver run through the 
ship, and her beams would cry out as if in pain. 
That, with a crash from time to time when some- 
thing would break loose, gave us a restless night. 
Even my friend Burbury, who is a devout Catho- 
lic, joined the chorus this morning. Later in the 
day I saw him in earnest conversation with two 
of the padres, and I think he was telling them 
"the worst was yet to come," advising them at 
the same time, as a friend of the church and a 
well-wisher, to leave the ship at Porte Monte and 
make their way over the mountains to Buenos 
Aires when the good weather comes. But he did 
not picture the terrors of Smith's channel with 
sufficient force, for we have just left port and they 
are still with us. There was no move made by 
any of them to go ashore, for they are convinced 
that if we could once get them off the ship they 
would never see us again. It is really pathetic, for 
everyone has a jab at them, and they have gotten 
sensitive on the subject. At tea today one of them 
said it was a cruel superstition to think a man of 
God could bring disaster to a ship. Well, Jonah 
was a man of God all right, but he had to go over- 
board just the same. 

It is comforting to know the sheltering islands 
will be about us for the next two days, and we 
hope the storm will have blown itself out before 
we round Cape Tres Montes and enter the Gulf of 
Penas, for it has a bad reputation. 



148 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

"A RAINBOW IN THE MORNING." 

CHAPTER XII. 

At Hincha we loaded about 2,000 sacks of po- 
tatoes on deck, and in the opinion of all on board 
we already had as much cargo as the ship could 
carry safely. When we • anchored at Castro an 
"Indignation meeting" was held in the fo'castle, 
and a committee of sailors went up to the captain 
to protest against what they considered a danger- 
ous load. There was a stormy scene, and the old 
man bellowed like the bull of Bashan. Some of 
the passengers had gone on shore, and when they 
returned to the ship they told how the people had 
shook their heads when they saw how little free- 
board we were carrying, and the top-heavy load 
we had. My opinion was asked, and I told Mr. 
Burbury I thought we had loaded below the regis- 
ter mark, and considered her unsafe if we met any 
rough weather rounding Cape Raper and cross- 
ing the Gulf of Penas. This decided Mr. Burbury 
to make protest, and he went to the bridge ; but the 
captain had not cooled off yet, and the only satis- 
faction he got was that he, the captain, would put 
another .thousand bags on board if he felt so dis- 
posed, and that no attention would be paid to any 
further protests. Hearing this report gave me an 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 149 

uncomfortable feeling, for it seemed the very limit 
had been reached, so after dinner I made a journey 
to the bridge. By this time the old man had blown 
off steam, and we had a pleasant visit. He as- 
sured me we had eight inches of free board yet by 
register, and that if we should get into a blow out- 
side he would cut the ropes and a broaching sea 
would take care of the excess cargo, as she had 
heavy tonnag'e down below that would absorb 
the shock. This reassured me very much until 
Burbury called my attention to the fact that 
an attempt to jettison the cargo with a 
broaching- sea would inevitably carry away the 
steering gear, which, upon investigation proved to 
be correct, and he proceeded to tell me an experi- 
ence he had in the early part of the South African 
war when he was sent across to Cape Town with 
a deck load of horses. The captain of the ship 
found it necessary to jettison his deck load, which 
he voluntarily or involuntarily tried to do by broach- 
ing. He got rid of his load all right, but the 
stearing gear went along with it, and they had a 
few distressing hours, which, had there been a 
lee shore, would have meant one less successful 
sheep rancher in Terra del Fuego. As there is 
nothing but lee shores in these waters, I would 
rather not face a blow. In fact there has been 
sufficient entertainment along this line for the last 
two weeks. We got away from Castro early this 
morning, and had a pleasant run into Melinka, and 



150 AROUND SOT7TH AMERICA WITH ' A SAMPLE CASE 

anchored there for the night, as we were clear of 
Corcovada Bay, and at the entrance of Movaleda 
Channel. This is good water, but not safe to navi- 
gate after dark. This morning we had a wide stretch 
of water on each side of the ship, but land was 
visible all around. Later we passed quite close to 
Transito Island, and the white surf made a picture 
of solemn grandeur. All along the shore of Chiloe 
and the smaller nearby islands there was evidence 
of habitations. Small farms were everywhere 
plotted out, with many seemingly comfortable 
houses, but after leaving Melinka we saw nothing 
but uninhabited atolls and larger islands. Riddle 
tells me it would take ten acres of this land to 
keep one goat, and if that is the case, it is one sec- 
tion of the world where a lodge in some vast wil- 
derness can always be found, but whoever would 
be idiot enough to seek it is another question. At 
noon the wind changed to the northwest again, 
and the barometer began to turn handsprings. 
Passing the shelter of James Island a hail and 
sleet storm swept down upon us for ten minutes, 
and presented a wild scene. The island has several 
snow-clad peaks, and around them whirled the 
black storm clouds, lit up, or rather made more 
intense, by the rays of a winter sun, that shot 
across them for a moment. Shortly after the 
course was changed, and we again hunted cover 
from the storm for the night. It might be men- 
tioned, in passing, that we added a further hoodoo 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 151 

at Castro by taking on a "cadaver," and this, to- 
gether with the other "Jonahs" on board, will make 
a memorable trip unless all sailor superstitions are 
at fault. But we are safe in a veritable little sea 
nest where w r e could ride safely in a gale that 
would lift the crown off the Andes, and, from the 
looks of things, it will be no surprise if we contem- 
plate the scenery and congratulate ourselves for the 
next three days, for another norther is coming. 

The night before we reached Porte Monte I 
overheard one of our passengers talking with the 
captain about the prospect of nine passengers com- 
ing on board. The captain said they would be 
crowded to full capacity. This seemed to disturb 
our good friend very much, and he said ; "Well, I 
certainly hope you will not put some chap in with 
me Avhose idea of a bath is to squirt some perfume 
on himself, and powder his nose." After some fur- 
ther talk the captain suggested that he accept his 
cabin, as he, the captain, would have but little use 
for it during the balance of the trip. This was 
politely refused, and a young Englishman was 
suggested as a roommate. When we reached 
Porte Monte a tough-looking bunch came on 
board, amongst whom was an American of the 
type we are not specially proud of, and he prompt- 
ly set up a howl, because no separate cabin was 
available. When Mr. B. saw the crowd he prompt- 
ly looked up the steward and had the young man 
sent to his cabin. I was thanking my stars, for 



152 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

whilst my roommate was a Chilian he was a thor- 
oughly decent chap, and I was well pleased with 
the situation so long as they did not burden us with 
a third party, and that, to judge by the crowd we 
already had and the crowd that came on board, 
seemed highly probable. Going to my cabin after 
dinner I found the steward busy getting my ship- 
mates' baggage out of our room. I was scared stiff, 
for a moment, fearing the unknown, and could 
scarcely credit my senses when told my friend was 
being transferred to the young Englishman's 
room, and I was to have my cabin "solo." The 
next day Mr. B. came to my room, an,d seeing one 
berth turned up, we had the following dialogue : 
"Do you have this cabin alone?" "Yes." "Well, 
how the devil did you work it?" "Well, the joke 
is on you, I am sorry to say," and I told him what 
had happned. He was profanely chagrined, for he 
is an Englishman, with all the Englishman's re- 
serve, and he wished to be alone, but being an 
Englishman he was also a good sport, and joined 
in the laugh at his expense, only saying, "This was 
a case where I talked too damn much." A cabin 
to oneself is much to be thankful for, but I do 
wish it had been at the expense of some less de- 
cent chap. 

I have just come in from a turn around the deck, 
and never remember of being in a place of such 
complete isolation on board of a ship. A black, star- 
less sky hangs above us, whilst all around are the. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 153 

silent hills, with not even a friendly candle to tell 
us land is near, but we are safe from the gale that 
is sweeping over the hill tops, and are far more 
comfortable than we would be bucking the giant 
seas which this storm has kicked up during the 
past two weeks. The beautiful rainbow which 
arched the sky in radiant colors yesterday morn- 
ing had its significance, for all night long the wind 
was surging down between the hills, and sang a 
dirge that caused more than one of the ship's crew 
and company to thank Heaven for our snug berth. 
At six o'clock we got under way and headed 
through Moraleda Channel and attempted the pass- 
age around Kent Island, but ran into a sea that 
was simply appalling. I was on the bridge and 
witnessed a clever piece of seamanship in turning 
her into Darwin Channel. The sea was mountain- 
ous and our ship was a plaything in the mighty 
waters. When the turn was made the waves came 
on like racehorses, lifting the ship like a cockle 
shell and swirling past us. They chased us right 
into the channel, and it was only after we had 
rounded one of the sharp bends that we got clear 
of the beasts. Then came a long stretch of quiet 
water, leading us between abrupt shores, densely 
wooded, with snow-clad crowns that were extreme- 
ly picturesque. At one o'clock we reached a shel- 
tered section and came to anchor. This was an- 
other uninhabited world, even more lonely than 
our, anchorage last night. We made up an explor- 



154 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

ing party, and I believe we were the first white 
men that ever stepped on that particular shore. 
There is no such dense jungle anywhere, except, 
perhaps, the shore near Majunga on the coast of 
Madagascar, and even that was less forbidding. I 
tried in vain to make my way into the jungle, but 
the growth of countless ages had built an unas- 
sailable wall. At dinner the captain informed ma 
the barometer was lower than it had been during 
the storm, and even in this sheltered spot the angry 
winds are piping an unfriendly tune. During the 
conversation at the table tales of the sea were in 
order, and the captain referred again to the super- 
stition of having padres on board, and said that 
some years ago he came out with one of the cloth 
as passenger, and at the end of nine days, not hav- 
ing made much headway, he had a basket packed 
with a meagre supply of food which he took to the 
padre's cabin, and informed him that unless there 
was a change of weather at daylight he would be 
given the basket and sent on shore. As it was 
about as inhospitable a coast as this the padre 
evidently spent the night in supplication, and his 
prayers were answered, for the change came on 
during the night, and the ship proceeded. There 
was a general plea from his hearers to execute 
some such plan with our Jonahs. A threat to put 
them on shore here would have brought on heart 
failure, had they been with me this afternoon, but 
the Throne of Grace would be bombarded this 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 155 

night and we would sail through summer seas for 
the balance of the trip. Some of us are getting 
a bit impatient, but Burbury and Riddle should re- 
joice exceedingly. Riddle has a new wife, and Bur- 
bury is taking a cook home. As there is no other 
way to reach Valparaiso except by boat there is 
no danger of either of them losing their prizes, for 
it would require the soul of a Viking to face these 
waters the second time. 

We were put on short rations today (July 25th) 
being five days over-due, and nowhere near our 
destination, but there are three live pigs on our 
passenger list, and two thousand bags of potatoes 
in the cargo so there is no danger of starvation. 
However, the subject has been discussed, and we 
have it all fixed in case we have to draw lots to 
see wdio shall die that the others may have meat 
with our spuds. Riddle is to see to it that the fat 
priest gets the short straw, and he has asked to be 
the executioner. This, because he has discovered 
the intended victim does the "goose step" on deck 
over his cabin every night in order to get his feet 
warm before retiring, and Riddle is praying for us 
to reach that extremity in order to get revenge. 

A start was made early this morning in an at- 
tempt to get around Menchuan Island, but heavy 
seas threatened our deck cargo, and would have 
endangered the ship had we reached open water. 
I was on the bridge with the captain and watched 
him maneuver to turn without getting caught by 



156 AROUND SOUTPI AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

the heavy rollers that came in series of three at 
intervals. Had we gotten caught broadside in one 
of these interesting periods there would have been 
a sensation on our good ship, but the work was 
well done, and my hat was figuratively lifted in 
recognition of the good seamanship displayed by 
Captain Mohlgaard. He is a Dane, and therefore 
a born sailor. When he got her turned we had a 
race with the great green seas that came thunder- 
ing behind us and at times they were appalling, 
but the good ship rode them safely until they 
passed beneath her and gave place to another. We 
were running for Darwin Channel and they chased 
us until we rounded an island ; then we had the 
satisfaction of seeing them go to pieces on the 
rock-bound shore, while we passed almost instantly 
into perfectly smooth water. During the three 
hours' battle with the elements there was more 
than one prayer sent up to the Throne of Grace 
for safety, and a sense of relief was felt when we 
dropped anchor in Port Refuge. It was here Lord 
Anson's squadron sought shelter in the early for- 
ties, and his flagship, the "Anna Pink" being in 
trouble, he anchored under the lee of Yuche-Mo,. 
but it must have been a storm like this, for she 
had to slip her cable and trust to luck, it being an 
uncharted coast at that time. Good fortune was 
with him, for he drove into this beautiful haven, 
and called it Port Refuge. Here he made his re- 
pairs and, to commemorate the event, he called 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 157 

it Anna Pink Bay. Shortly after coming to anchor 
the sky cleared, with every indication of a speedy 
ending of the storm, but the barometer held a 
warning, and we settled down to another night of 
patient waiting. 

An early start was made from Port Refuge this 
morning for another supreme effort to round Tres 
Montes and reach Smyth's Channel, where our 
troubles would be over. I hurried through break- 
fast, and was soon on the bridge. The captain was 
there with a happy expression on his face. His 
greeting was cheery, but to my suggestion that 
our troubles were over he only shook his head, 
saying we had quite an ugly bit of water before 
us yet, but the barometer was in better shape than 
for two weeks past, and he was hoping for the 
best. The sun was shining gloriously, and the 
squalls that frequently came up from the south- 
west only made material for countless rainbows, 
one of which was the most gorgeous I ever be- 
held. It formed a great band of purple, blue, green, 
orange and deep red, reaching the zenith, and 
the colors were so brilliant they cast a reflection on 
the water, reaching to the ship's side. I never 
saw anything like it before, and never anything 
more beautiful. Rainbows fiave flashed on all 
sides for the past three days as if to recall God's 
promise to the world and bid us know that all was 
well, even though the great green seas appeared 
so threatening. 



158 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

At noon we were off Cape Raper and saw the 
first human habitation since leaving Melinka. There 
is a lighthouse here, and the sight of it brought a 
sense of companionship not felt for days. The 
wind had hauled around to the southwest, and the 
sea began to quiet down rapidly. By the time 
Cape Tres Montes was rounded only long smooth 
rollers were running, and the motion was pleas- 
ant as the ship passed into the Gulf of Penas. 
This is another famous bit of water, for the Ma- 
rine Islands lie just north in the small Gulf of Tres 
Montes. The English ship Wager went on shore 
on one of these islands and was wrecked ; some of 
the boats being smashed. When the weather 
cleared and they got ready to leave it was found 
the boats could not carry all the men, so four of 
the marines volunteered to remain, it being an- 
other evidence of the loyalty so often exhibited 
by that corps. The chart book of the coast has 
the following foot-note ; "Having lost the yawl 
and being too many for the barge to carry, we 
were obliged to leave four of our men behind. The 
captain (Cheape) distributed to these poor fellows 
arms, and ammunition, with some other necessi- 
ties. When we parted they stood upon the beach, 
giving us three cheers and called out 'God bless 
the King.' ' No effort seems to have been made to 
rescue them, but many years later a party landing 
on the same island found the ruins of a hut, but 
no record of what had become of the men. Know- 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 159 

ing the class of ships used in those days, and being 
now familiar with the dangers of these shore, I 
have a high regard for the brave hearts who sailed 
with Drake, Magellan, Anson and Fitz Roy. Cape 
pigeons flocked about us off Cape Raper, with a 
dozen or more stately albatros, and knowing the 
many ships that have gone down in these waters, 
some reason is given for the legend that pigeons 
contain the souls of lost sailors, and the albatros 
the spirit of lost commanders. No sailor will al- 
low one of them to be hurt if he can prevent it. 
At three o'clock the dome of San Pedro indicated 
the entrance of Smyth's Channel, but we did not 
make it until long after dark. 

It had been almost a cloudless day, and the night 
was starlit with unearthly splendor. Venus sent 
a shaft of light across the water like a miniature 
moon, whilst the Southern Cross, immediately 
overhead, was submerged in the brilliance of the 
Milky Way. The Magellan cloud piercing this 
brilliance with its inky blackness made the glory 
about it more intense. Strange mystery of the sky 
it is, for no speck of light is found in all its pro- 
found depth ; a veritable Sahara of the sky, seem- 
ingly a plague spot avoided by all the celestial 
host. Old star friends of forty years ago greet- 
ed me with welcome twinkles and kept me on the 
upper deck until my body was chilled, but my 
heart was warmed by memories these old friends 
recalled. 



160 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

Being so delayed justified the captain in keeping 
on throughout the night, proceeding cautiously, 
and the English narrows was not reached until 
six-thirty the next morning. This is the most 
difficult place in all the Straights passage, as it is 
extremely narrow, with two sharp turns. This, 
taken with a six-knot tide gives the skipper a 
tense ten minutes. The courtesy of the bridge 
was extended me, and it was interesting to note 
the calculations of seconds, followed by sharp 
commands and swift response of our dear old ship. 
Once the captain caught the wheel giving it a sud- 
den whirl, evidently fearing his order would not 
be obeyed quickly enough. Ten minutes later 
we passed into an open and comparatively straight 
stretch, all dangers past, and I went below to en- 
joy a special breakfast friend Doughty had per- 
suaded the steward to have ready for me. The 
meal was hurried, in order to get on deck, for 
we were passing through the most picturesque 
water-way in the world. In many places the shore 
formed regular canon Avails, rising to^ immense 
heights, and almost perpendicular. These were 
cut into by estuaries and festooned by waterfalls, 
whilst the water of the channel, smooth as a mir- 
ror, reflected their grandeur faithfully. Keen in- 
terest was awakened as we approached "Icy 
Beach" for it is the place of icebergs. This ship 
was blockaded there for eight hours on the last 
trip up; some of the ice masses rising forty feet 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 161 

above the water, which made them dangerous. A 
wide estuary comes into the channel at this point, 
and there is an immense glacier at its upper end, 
which contributes regularly to the ship captain's 
troubles. The strong north wind of the past three 
weeks had completely cleared the channel, and 
there was no obstruction, but early in the after- 
noon the barometer began to play more tricks, 
and a blinding snowstorm is a decided possibility, 
which means further delay. It was after dark 
before we reached an anchorage, and it called for 
cautious handling to bring the ship to safety, as 
the night was inky, and no friendly lighthouse to 
show us the way. Some Indians came alongside 
about 9 o'clock, and the quartermaster turned the 
searchlight on them. They were in the crudest 
kind of bark canoe, and in all my travels I have 
never looked upon such God-forsaken wretches. 
There were two women, one man and a child, and 
they belong- to the "Yahgan" or Canoe Indians. 
They were sending up a plaintive cry of two words 
"Galleta Galleta" (biscuit) and "Wachiki Wachiki" 
(whiskey). The purser gave them a bag of stale 
bread, and one of the passengers brought them a 
bottle of wine. When the woman climbed up the 
side of the ship to get the wine, the ragged man's 
coat she was wearing fell open, being buttonless, 
and revealed her body, absolutely nude beneath, 
and this condition when I was shivering under a 
woolen union suit, heavy woolen clothes and ul- 



162 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

ster. I have seen the "native" in many parts of 
this old world, but the picture last night will live 
in my memory as one of the saddest. 

We left Poerto Bueno for the last leg of our 
run, and made our way over quiet waters, making 
sharp turns at times in following the channel. 
As the night came on a friendly light flashed out to 
guide and cheer us and let us know we were reach- 
ing civilization once more. We all went to bed 
with a feeling of relief, for we had faced real 
perils and were glad to know our port was near. 
At eight o'clock we came to anchor off the most 
southern town in the' world. Fitful flashes of 
sunlight lit up the snow-clad hills of Terra del 
Fuego far to the south, and as we had seen so 
little of it for the past three weeks, it brought fur- 
ther goodj cheer to our hearts. A special tug 
came off for Mr. Burbury, and I was invited to 
accompany his party on shore. We landed at a 
long mole and soon found ourselves at the Hotel 
Royal, tenderly caressing a real fire, the first 1 
had enjoyed for three months. Along with the fire 
we had a pot of good coffee, bread and butter, the 
latter being the first of that material serving its 
original purpose, for what we had been eating for 
three weeks was a very poor grade of axle grease. 
Ten minutes after reaching my room, Mr. de la 
Concha, the resident manager of the Grace Com- 
pany, was announced, and gave me a friendly wel- 
come, expressing the hope he could be of some ser- 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 163 

vice to me during my stay. After lunch I called 
on Mr. Brady, our American consul, and renewed 
a pleasant acquaintance began on my trip from 
New York to Colon. He and Mrs. Brady seemed 
glad to see me again, and I was invited to tea the 
following afternoon to meet the British consul. 
This was the beginning of a series of delightful 
courtesies that continued throughout my stay in 
Punta Arenas, and terminated in a dance the night 
before I sailed, and for the time I utterly for- 
got I was sixty years old. This was specially true 
after one of the dances, for I found myself bend- 
ing over my partner's shoulder and saying "I did 
not believe there was a girl south of New Orleans 
who could dance so wonderfully." Just then her 
husband joined us, and, overhearing my remark, 
spoiled it all by saying "That is the third time I 
have listened to that story tonight, and each time 
with a different lady." If by chance he spreads 
this information my reputation for sincerity in 
Punta Arenas will be at low tide. It was a happy 
time, and the event will be one of the many pleas- 
ant memories born here. 

A few years ago Punta Arenas was a Chilian 
penal colony and calling port for whalers, but in 
recent years it has become a wool center, with a 
place in the . commercial sun ; it being the head- 
quarters of the largest farm for jsjheep in the 
world. My shipmate on the Chiloe, Mr. Burbury, 
is at the head of the organization and many hours 



164 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

passed quickly listening to the wonderful story of 
its development. It was started on a small scale 
twenty odd years ago, and has gone on until they 
own and control seven million acres of fenced-in 
land, an acreage larger than all of Belgium. On 
this property they maintain vast flocks of sheep 
and herds of horses, cattle and mules. This year 
they will shear about one million three hundred 
thousand sheep, producing 20,000 bales of wool, 
and will slaughter nearly 400,000 for freezing and 
canning. The statistics are bewildering when one 
thinks of an estate carrying that number of sheep, 
besides 15,000 cattle and 10,000 horses and mules. 
They kill 40,000 sheep yearly for their own con- 
sumption and lose another 180,000 by death and 
straying, all of which is met by a yearly increase 
of about 600,000 lambs. Spread over so vast a 
field, and with such diversified interests this prop- 
osition comes into the class of big things, and 
the mangement a "man's job." It was therefore 
a great privilege to meet and talk with the one 
who handles it so successfully. 

The morning after my arrival brought an invi- 
tation to dinner from Mr. Burbury, and at 7:30 
I stepped out from crude surroundings into an 
elegantly appointed home, where it was difficult to 
realize I was over 8,000 miles from New York. A 
genial company was present, and after dinner our 
host entertained us with some well worth while 
music on a high-toned pipe organ that would be a 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 165 

credit to a church or pretentious music hall. I was 
engaged in a game of bridge when the tender notes 
of "I know that my Redeemer liveth" came afloat- 
ing in from the music room, and it was a good ex- 
cuse for trumping my partner's ace. For the 
moment all thought of the present was forgotten, 
and I was back in the Carnegie Music Hall with 
Heinroth the last Saturday night I spent in Pitts- 
burgh, for he then rendered this same masterpiece. 
The time to say "good-night" came all too soon, 
but it was my good fortune to enjoy three such 
evenings during my stay, and the memory of them 
makes me want to return. Nor must I forget my 
breakfast with Mr. and Mrs. Nixon, and the little 
dinner and bridge party the following night, and, 
a few days later, my tea with Mr. and Mrs. Mc- 
Lean. 

An introduction to Mr. Boyd of the Braun, 
Blanchard Company, brought a card to the Eng- 
lish Club, with its pleasant lounge and genial com- 
pany, and later he presented me to the general 
manager of the Menendez Company, who arrang- 
ed for a visit to their coal mines. Their engine 
and "Pullman," in charge of the mine manager and 
superintendent were put at my disposal, and we 
were carried back into the hills over as desolate 
a stretch of country as there is on earth. It was 
formerly a vast forest, and the stumps and trunks 
of rotting trees added to the general desolation. 
At the first cut in the foot-hills we left the train 



166 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

and examined a curious bank of shells ; some places 
a solid mass ten feet thick, showing a mute evi- 
dence of the countless ages which have elapsed 
since it was the bed of the ocean. There were 
two feet of snow here, and at the mine it was four 
feet deep, with heavy drifts' in places, through 
which we struggled to reach the upper opening 
of the mine. The coal is a low grade lignite about 
eight feet thick and was opened up in 1900, but 
was not worked successfully until after the war, 
for people would rather pay the difference for 
Welsh or Australian coal, so long as it was avail- 
able. At the present time foreign coals are not to 
be had, so the mine is producing about 110 tons 
daily, which, being burnt with wood, supplies the 
needs of the town. It is at this time a good invest- 
ment, as they get $7.00 per ton, and are able to 
keep twenty-eight miners at work. They are also 
having their labor troubles with demands calling 
for an adjustment ; in fact there is as much dis- 
turbance in labor circles here as elsewhere, but the 
large factors hope to have it settled before the 
shearing season comes on, for then work must go 
on like clock-work or cause heavy loss. There are 
two freezing plants here, but they are small com- 
pared with the Explotodora and plants of Swift 
& Co., and Armour Co., further up the coast. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 16 { 

A TURN FOR THE BETTER. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

A whole boatload of good friends braved a driv- 
ing snowstorm and a nasty sea to accompany us 
to the "Argentino," and in bidding farewell wished 
us better luck than we had coming down. Just 
before leaving shore, de la Concha gave us a 
"salute" in a bottle of Cliquot, so between the 
smiling friends and cheering glass we forgot the 
ugly weather. Then too we had the comforting 
thought that each day would bring us nearer sun- 
shine and improved physical surroundings, but I 
will find no more real sunshine in the tropics than 
is found in the hearts of the people in this far-away 
city ; and so they made it seem like springtime to 
me, although the hills all about us were white with 
snow. The storm let up before our friends left, 
and we were able to see the fluttering signals being 
waved for some time after we were under way. 
Nearing the shore of Terra del Fuego I was able 
to contrast the actual view with my preconceived 
notions of the place. I had pictured it a rugged 
volcanic surface, with smoke and fire coming out 
of countless craters and general desolation every- 
where. What we actually saw was a vast rolling 
plain, with fair-sized hills, also smooth in outline, 



168 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

in the background. It is called the "Land of Fire," 
but the only blaze in the entire island would be 
found in a shepherd's hut or campfire, and so an- 
other romance of youth is gone. Terra del Fuego 
is really a great pampas given over to the success- 
ful growing of sheep and guanacas, and there is 
not a giant on the island bigger than Donald Mc- 
Grath, and he is only six feet two. 

A starless winter night settled down, but for an 
hour after the cheerful glow -of the city lights broke 
the dreariness of the scene. When the light faded, 
those of us from the States began to picture in 
our minds just how the glow from the lights of 
Broadway would impress us. The east coast line is 
totally unlike the western shore. That coast line 
was imposing at all times, and, seen from the view- 
point of a sailor, cruel in the extreme, with swift 
and uncertain currents, and almost constant gales. 
These gales keep a sea running which tests the 
nerves of timid people, and reduces the dining saloon 
expenses on ships plying these waters. Ever since 
leaving Panama I have found the Pacific the most 
unpacific proposition imaginable, and so will hail 
the troubled waters of the Atlantic with relief, for 
conditions could not be any worse. We are hop- 
ing for the best but are prepared for the worst, 
for the Jonahs are on board, this time four strong. 
Several of our passengers devoutly made the sign 
of the Cross and turned up their left coat sleeve 
when the padres came on board. I wish they had 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 169 

some fetich which inspired more faith, for I do not 
have much confidence in the coat sleeve charm, 
but the "sacred sign" may save us from another 
Chiloe experience. This shore is well marked by 
lighthouses, and their guiding rays give a feeling 
of safety not felt when we sailed past the black, 
lightless shores of Western Patagonia. At ten 
o'clock this A. M. we "ran in on the tide" at Rio 
Gallegos. Let me explain this by saying there is 
a tide here rising from forty-eight to fifty-two 
feet, which means that shipmasters fix their time 
of entry and departure with great care. I went on 
shore in the first "Chatter," was met by Mr. Eric- 
son of the Grace Company and taken off to the 
Hotel France, and there enjoyed a good breakfast 
in company with a Mr. Knight, whom I had met 
at the club in Punta Arenas. We had a pleasant 
hour, and then Mr. Ericson got a taxi and we visit- 
ed the freezing plant of Swift & Co. Mr. Parkin- 
son took us through the plant, giving us some in- 
teresting data as we journeyed with him. 

It is not a large place, but they have a record 
of 5,500 sheep killed in one day, and their average 
during the season is around 3,000. No cattle or 
hogs are killed here. This immense slaughter is 
done by eighteen men, which means there is no 
time lost. Mr. Parkison tells me he has a man who 
can skin a carcass in two minutes, leaving the car- 
cass and skin without a scar from the knife. The 
tide was out when we returned to the beach, Ieav~ 



170 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA AVITH A SAMPLE CASE 

ing a stretch of mud two hundred yards wide and we 
had an hour to wait before the scow could get in to 
us. The freight for here has been handled dur- 
ing the day, and high tide sent us on our way for 
Santa Cruz. This wee city is a miniature of Galle- 
gos, with nothing specially attractive on shore. 
Our next stop was at St. Julian, but only for a 
brief stay. We had been out from this port but 
a few hours when passengers began to look cross- 
eyed at the padres, for it began to blow great guns. 
The ship was practically in ballast, and being light, 
she gave us an uncomfortable night. Groans from 
passengers and ship, with a constant hammer of 
the steering gear immediately overhead, further 
supplemented by a cross baby in the next cabin, 
made a fine combination. The storm battered for 
another thirty-six hours but the ship managed to 
reach anchorage at Commodor Rivadivia at noon 
today, and we found it real homelike. There are 
oil tanks and derricks all along the shore, and two 
ships are already here. We went on shore this 
afternoon to find a strike in full blast, and a local 
war threatened because the "winch-man" refuses 
to join the union. He is the only one within a radius 
of 300 miles capable of holding the job, but 
these loyal sons of the I. W. W. refuse to load a 
bale of wool that he hoists, so they are having 
something of a Russian situation here. The ship's 
cargo for this port is being gotten out with the 
help of the merchants and their clerks to whom it 




iM€-:.- ■:■■■■■ ■■■■ : % : -^^l^t.. 

i, 

m 







A Patagonia Chief. 



AROUND SOUTH. AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 171 

is consigned, but cargo for the ship must be left 
behind, however much the mills may need wool. 

My good luck has deserted me for this trip, 
being berthed in a small cabin with another pas- 
senger. He is a very decent chap, but will abomi- 
nate the room with local cigarette smoke, going 
to bed with one between his teeth, and the bath- 
room steward's call in the morning is a signal for 
another light-up. Coupled with this discomfort 
there is a "Heiney baby" in the next cabin, and the 
little beggar howls like a tomcat all night. My 
roommate swears very proficiently and thereby 
lifts the strain that would otherwise become un- 
bearable ; it acts as a counter-irritant. We are now 
ten days out from Punta Arenas, and not half way 
to our desitnation. As it is ordinarily a 10-days, 
trip, there is no doubt that we have a Jonah on 
board. Yesterday being Sunday the padres fitted 
up an altar in the smoking room and held service, 
but I am satisfied a more earnest prayer went up 
for fair weather than for the salvation of souls. 
During the night they reversed action if they were 
wise, for at midnight the wind changed and swept 
down on us in a gale that came within a fraction 
of sending us into collision with the sister ship 
which came to anchor near us yesterday. There 
was a wild panic on board for a few minutes, 
although there was no real danger, but there was 
more noise and excitement than when the Titanic 
went down. The captain was on the bridge bel- 



172 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

lowing like the fabled bull of Bashan, which start- 
ed some of our lady passengers into what my 
roommate termed "high-steficks" and, altogether, 
we had rather a lively session until the boat began 
to respond to the propellor, after which we got up 
anchor and pulled into a safe berth. We are there 
now, and by the look of things likely to stay here 
indefinitely. It is getting on my nerves a bit, be- 
cause of the dreary, noisy, uncongenial crowd on 
board. I protested against the bunch of German 
officers who used to shatter my train of thought 
when they would settle down for a game of ecarte 
on the Burgomeister coming up the east coast of 
Africa, but they were whispering" zephyrs of a 
star spangled tropical night compared with the 
Valparaiso gale when our South American con- 
tingent gets mixed up in a game of whiskey poker. 
My cabin being too small, the deck too windy, and 
the smoking room too noisy, my work suffers 
along with my patience and general nervous sys- 
tem. There is one source of endless entertain- 
ment, for which I am profoundly thankful. There 
are thousands of gulls here ; big and little, black 
and white, gray and brown, while the young ones 
have a jacket of the most beautiful mauve with 
wings of deeper purple. They are certainly beau- 
tiful, both in color and graceful flight, and what a 
time they have when a scrap pan is emptied over- 
board? This is a signal for a wild scramble, and 
it is very funny to see some lucky fellow fasten 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 173 

onto a big chunk of bread or meat and start on his 
wild flight for safety. But it is no use. No soon- 
er does he sail aloft than he finds himself in the 
position of a football player making a touchdown. 
There is always a tackle resulting in the release of 
the bit of forage. If the bird is twenty-five feet 
above water when he is forced to let go, it is always 
caught on the fly, and the same evolutions gone 
through with again until the disputed capture is 
torn into pieces, and thereby fairly well distrib- 
uted. An occasional "bone-breaker" comes on 
the scene, and then things are different. This so- 
called bone-breaker seems to be a cross between 
the gull and the albatros. It has nearly the same 
breadth of wing and the same stately flight, but 
is always dead black or brown in color. When one 
of these fellows sees a gull getting away with 
something edible he bears down on the poor little 
rascal like the black pirate he is, and in that case 
there is no effort made to catch it on the fly. The 
big bird makes good his claim by superiority of 
weight, and it is not unusual to see a ring of gulls 
around one of these fellows assailing him with 
hungry squawks and no doubt using gull language 
that would be classed as impolite, but not daring 
to get within reach of either beak or wing. Their 
was an half-hour entertainment this morning. The 
cook threw a piece of meat overboard that must 
have been three feet long. The gulls clustered 
over it as the tide carried it past the ship. There: 



174 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

were two pirate craft cruising in the offing, and 
the commotion on the water evidently excited 
their curiosity. The gulls were too busy to note 
the approaching danger, and in a moment there 
was a wild panic, leaving the black burglars in pos- 
session of the meat. They circled around for fully' 
two minutes before either of them risked taking 
hold. Finally one made a grab and started up, but 
before he could get away, the other fellow caught 
the other end, and then the real fun began. It was 
a regular tug-of-war for a minute and then a 
scrap. They fought and tugged until the meat 
was torn apart, and each settled down to enjoy the 
feast he had fought so valiantly for. 

There is something to be thankful for, even on 
this stupid voyage, there being no cracked grapho- 
phone on board, nor any aspirant for Galli Curci's 
job. The worst we have to contend with in this 
line is the constant effort of our "wireless" to 
whistle "Just one Girl." I bore it patiently for ten 
days, but reached the limit of my endurance one 
•hour ago. I approached the misguided youth and 
in a solemn tone of voice told him that an early 
death was one of the saddest of earthly things, 
but that I would murder him in cold blood, what- 
ever that term means, if I heard another note 
from him. The continued delay is getting on my 
nerves, and I can understand why men fight to a 
finish when snowbound in the far north, as de- 
scribed by Jack London and Rex Beach. The two 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 175 

weeks spent on this ship has gotten me into a 
beautifully quarrelsome mood, for it is the least in- 
teresting journey I have ever made. The only 
break in the deadly monotony is when our South 
American contingent starts a poker game in the 
smoking room. My dear old Uncle kept many 
ducks when he farmed, and they were very noisy 
at feeding time. Well, I get into a far corner, close 
my eyes and for half an hour am a boy again at 
duck feeding- time. The illusion is perfect, except 
the ducks stopped quacking when they got full, 
but when one of these ducks gets (a) full he simply 
blows up, if the other duck has four of a kind. I 
would give much for some one, male, female or 
neutral to walk and talk with, and thereby keep 
my brain from ossifying. Up to the present time 
any thought other than one touching on a rule in 
bridge or whiskey poker dies a swift death. 

After five days' battle with the surf we managed 
to get our cargo on board at Rivadavia and head- 
ed up the coast on another leg of our journey. We 
are due at Buenos Aires today, and only a little 
over half way. Fortunately there is but one more 
intermediate port, so we will make good time 
from now on, for which everyone is duly thank- 
ful, for the whole outfit is rank ; captain, crew, 
passengers, myself included. We are served with a 
menu that would stir rebellion in the heart of a Har- 
lem goat if he were held down to it for seven consecu- 
tive meals, and after two weeks he would be will- 



176 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

ing to eat Hearst's papers. We nosed into Madryn 
at 4 o'clock this afternoon and spent nearly two 
hours getting alongside the dock. Captain Hud- 
gins would have laid her alongside in twenty 
minutes. But it is comforting to see a pier once 
more. This is the first pier since leaving Colon 
where it has been possible to go on shore with- 
out danger of a ducking or being storm-bound 
and marooned until the next steamer. A trip on 
shore this morning confirms all the weird stories 
told about Patagonian winds, and all future yarns 
will be accepted without question. A Scotch sheep 
farmer discovered a gorge on his place down 
which an exceptionally "cutting" wind always 
swept. With true Scotch thrift he conceived the 
idea of driving his sheep across the mouth of this 
gorge at shearing time, and was able to harvest 
his avooI at no expense. There is a companion 
story to this, dealing with a certain very necessary 
surgical operation in connection with sheep farm- 
ing, but that story has to be told. It cannot be 
written. There were some lingering" doubts when 
these stories were told, but my visit in Madryn re- 
moved them completely. We walked, or rather 
battled our way, through the town, seeing nothing 
but a few scattered houses and stores with a 
background equal in desolation to the pampas of 
Bolivia. Later in the day we walked a mile or more 
along the beach, and it had real charm. Tide rows 
of sea weed mark the high water line, and it is 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 177 

richly colored. Pink, yellow, blue, brown and 
every shade of green. All were blended into an 
harmonious color scheme, most pleasing to view. 
But my eyes are getting jaundiced and I fear I 
will be finding fault with even the "beauty of holi- 
ness" if this cruise lasts much longer. Some writer, 
trying to impress his readers with home values, 
has said, "Try doing without the morning head- 
lines, hot and cold water of the free running 
variety, elevation, theatres, Christian food and 
your own language. Then think of a stack of 
wheats with maple syrup, honest-to-goodness but- 
ter, and a cup of coffee, with real cream that does 
not come from a tin cow ; and now tell me if the 
dame with the torch does not seem rather allur- 
ing." I would like to hear what that chap would 
say along this line if he made a cruise around 
Patagonia. That famous dame would not only ap- 
pear as the Goddess of Liberty, but the Goddess 
of everything good and beautiful. Much of our 
unrest is due to the endless delays we have been 
subjected to for months. There were people in 
Santiago who had waited seven weeks for a chance 
to get across the mountains, and they are there 
yet, for the pass is not yet open. Many of these 
fellows are on a commission basis, and their hearts 
must have grown sick seeing their profits going to 
the hotel sharks. Others have to give an account 
of their time and expense, and it is tragic to see 
them trying to make their reports clear and con- 



178 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

vincing. One youngster said to me, "I will never 
make the old man believe I have spent six weeks 
in honestly trying to get over the mountains from 
Santiago. Unfortunately he knows how suscep- 
tible I am to pretty girls, and when I had been here 
a few days I wrote home saying the town was 
alive w 7 ith them. I can just naturally see myself 
spending the balance of my commercial life in the 
shipping department." 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 179 

BUENOS AIRES. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

This morning the muddy green waters of the 
South Atlantic had given place to the yellow waters 
of "La Platte" but no land was in sight, for the river 
is 120 miles wide at this point. There was no bath 
this morning, for it recalled one made ready for 
me on my first visit to St. Louis. This was be- 
fore the Chain of Rocks was in action, and that 
was another bath missed, for the water in both 
cases looked as if it had been shoveled into the 
tub and not gotten there by legitimate means. 
Nevertheless this same muddy water is a wel- 
come sight, for it means we are nearing our desti- 
nation, after all the weary days. We were sup- 
posed to sail from Valparaiso July fourth, and this 
is August twenty-fifth, making a record voyage 
for me of fifty-two days, and some of these fifty- 
two days will not soon be forgotten. Barring a 
pampero, we will dock this afternoon, and, speak- 
ing of pamperos reminds me of my last entrance 
into the mouth of this river. We had left St. 
Catherines, December eighteenth, thinking to give 
ourselves ample time to reach Montivideo in time 
for Christmas dinner. Word had been sent on to 
Evans, the ship chandler, weeks before instructing 



180 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

him to have turkeys and all that goes with them 
to make up a real Christmas dinner, and we began 
to have visions of it before we had the anchor cat- 
ted. We had scarcely cleared the channel before 
the wind hauled to the southwest and picked up 
half a gale. We were short of coal and were com- 
pelled to buck this nasty head wind and sea under 
sail. The ship (the old Hartford) was well handl- 
ed, and at 8 P. M. of the twenty-fourth, when I 
went on duty, we were in these same muddy wa- 
ters congratulating ourselves on the reasonable cer- 
tainty of coming to anchor by 8 A. M. the next 
day. The wind had hauled to the southeast and 
we were bowling along in fine shape. Midshipman 
Taylor was on the fo'castle, and we were talking 
of other Christmas days, expressing the hope our 
next Christmas would be spent at home. Just then 
the sails began to quiver and belly in. Without 
waiting for Taylor I shouted, "All aback forward, 
sir," and for the next ten minutes it looked as if 
we had had our last Christmas dinner, unless Davy 
Jones had some arrangement for the celebration, 
for a pampero had hit us fairly in the teeth, and 
the old ship behaved very much like a drunken man 
trying to navigate on ice, but discipline was good, 
and my friend Woods was in charge of the quarter- 
deck. Proper orders were given and promptly exe- 
cuted, and in about ten minutes we were scudding 
before a living gale, all snug and secure, but alas, 
our Christmas dinner was a thing to be dreamed 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 181 

of only during long watches of the night, and we 
made wry faces over the standard ship's grub the 
next day. My, how rank it was ; not that it was 
really bad, but the contrast of our actual pork and 
beans to our fondly pictured turkey and plum pud- 
ding could not be otherwise than sad. It was the 
morning of the twenty-seventh before the gale blew r 
itself out, but by crowding on all sail, and with a 
fair breeze we made port New Year's morning. 
We had the big dinner all right, but somehow it 
fell flat. 

Much of this yellow water has gone down to the 
sea since that belated Christmas dinner, for it was 
nearly forty years ago. Many ships passed us dur- 
ing the day, and about one o'clock a trim Yankee 
five-masted schooner hove in sight, with our beauti- 
ful flag at the peak. It was a pleasing picture to 
those of us who had seen nothing but tramp steam- 
ers for months, and not many of them. We were 
soon between the line of buoys and slowly making 
our way to the narrow dock entrance. Before us 
was a scene very like the East river fifty years 
ago. There was a forest of masts and yards in- 
dicating everything from a four-mast full rigged 
ship to a single-stick lugger. The stars and stripes 
were flying from many of their mastheads, and let 
us hope our mis-representatives will not "legislate" 
it out of existence as they did before. As we warp- 
ed into the dock I had a vivid recollection of my 
last landing- here. We at that time anchored about 



182 ABOUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

three miles from shore, and flat bottom boats came 
out for us. These were pushed in until they ran 
aground, which was fully fifty feet from the actual 
shore. Bull carts were backed out alongside our 
barges and we made our final passage, looking much 
like French revolution victims going to our fate in 
tumbrels. I have a very distinct recollection of the 
place where I landed, and when I described it to 
Mr. Kenney a few days later he was able to take 
me to the exact spot. The mud bank where boats 
grounded and bull carts backed out to take off pas- 
sengers and cargo is today a beautiful sunken gar- 
den marking the terminal of the subway under 
Avenida de Mayo. The river is now nearly half a 
mile to the east, and faced with docks where ships 
of the world can load and unload speedily. Mil- 
lions of tons of freight are handled here yearly, 
and it would be some considerable job for bull carts. 
Buenos Aires is better equipped to handle over-seas 
traffic than any sea port in America. This state- 
ment applies not only to docks and methods of 
handling freight, but to the splendid system of cus- 
toms warehouses all along the water front. The 
dock improvement is in keeping with the general 
progress made by the city and in the political situa- 
tion. If my memory serves me right there were 
four revolutions in 1879, one president shot, and 
much blood shed throughout the year. Today there 
is a stable government, and this fact was never 
more manifest than at the present time, for no one 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 18$ 

has a good word for the President. In 1879 a man 
as unpopular as Senior Irigoyen would have to con- 
duct affairs of State in a bomb-proof cellar. The 
one bright page in the annals of his administration 
is the active and efficient manner in which the Bol- 
shevik movement has been handled. It was a "little 
Petrograd" around here in January of this year. 
The "Reds" made their open boasts, saying they in- 
tended to "take over the government" with the 
promise of "no work" and plenty of money to 
their followers. Senior Irigoyen very promptly got 
out the machine guns and used them effectively, 
cleaning up some eight hundred of the sinners. 
This was followed by an active search for and 
capture of the ringleaders. These embryo Len- 
ines and Trotskys were promptly stockaded and a 
short time afterward a shipload of Patriots (?) 
were on their way back to Russia, Spain and Italy. 
There are between two and three thousand lesser 
lights gathered together in the same compact fold 
ready for a free ocean trip, but they have expressed 
a change of heart, and are pleading for mercy, with 
many promises of good behavior and obedience to 
the law. However, they are keeping them penned 
long enough to allow their good resolutions to take 
root. And right here we may get a suggestion for 
the proper dealing with our I. W. W.'s and other 
"I wont workers." My physical condition has kept 
me from investigating many things of interest, but 
one cannot traverse these streets without being 



184 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA AVITH A SAMPLE CASE 

deeply impressed by the greatness of the city. It 
is really big in every sense of the word. In many 
respects Florida street will compare favorably with 
Fifth avenue. The street unfortunately is very 
narrow, but the shop appointments and stocks are 
high grade. The department store of Harrods car- 
ries a line of goods equal to Wanamaker and their 
window display is always artistic. Jewelry stores 
are numerous, and specially notable, as their win- 
dow shows are dazzling. A gala night at the Grand 
Opera would necessitate blinkers, for the Argentine 
ladies must rival the consorts of our steel kings in 
their jewelled splendor. There are several business 
streets lined with attractive stores, and the shop- 
ping district is thoroughly metropolitan. But the 
most interesting and numerous commercial feature, 
at least to the stranger, is the countless vendors of 
lottery tickets. There are hundreds, and perhaps 
thousands, of places where tickets are on sale, but 
the vendors do not pester one, as they do in Havana 
and Panama. The next most important business 
seems to be the "Cambio" shops, but there is an 
unholy reason for the money changers, for money 
is brought in from nearby states of Chili, Paraguay, 
Uraguay and Brazil, with more or less coming from 
the United States, and England, so it is the money 
changers paradise. There is a private bank on San 
Martin street conducted by Pasqual Brothers, and 
it is well worth seeing. Usually there is around 
$50,000 in gold coin and bullion stacked up in the 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 185 

"thin" glass window, and inside, back of the coun- 
ter, is a shelf running the full length of the room. 
This shelf is piled with currency from the several 
nearby States, in about the same reckless profusion 
one would expect to see if the "dinero" were car- 
rots and green peas. I never passed the place 
without speculating on what would happen some 
quiet afternoon if this place was located on State 
street or Dearborn street in Chicago. The streets 
are narrow, which would interfere somewhat with 
the get-away, but some of the former residents of 
San Quentin would negotiate the deal in some way. 
If that window was in New York or Chicago, it 
would have to be protected by two-inch manganese 
steel bars, and even then the contents would not 
be safe. The streets in the old section of the city 
are extremely narrow, making one-way traffic 
necessary, and even then the traffic is fearfully 
congested. But the city has already begun a 
scheme to correct this evil. Every fourth street is 
to be made into a boulevard as cash in the city 
treasury becomes available, and strange to say, 
owners of property along these selected streets 
are showing a patriotic spirit, wherein they again 
differ from our beloved fellow-citizens, for I feel 
sorry for the tax-payers of Pittsburgh if they de- 
cided to widen Fifth avenue or Smithfield street. 
They already have a number of these splendid 
avenues, such as de Mayo, Callao, Entre Rios and 
the wide streets through Palermo, all of which 



186 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

are well paved, well lighted, and most pleasing to 
the eye. The street car service is very good con- 
sidering the handicap of crowded streets, and the 
cars are scrupulously clean. Although coal costs 
about $30.00 per ton and everything entering in- 
to the maintenance of the road is abnormally ex- 
pensive here, yet they are able to pay the city 
twelve and one-half per cent on their earnings, de- 
clare a satisfactory dividend to their stockholders, 
and at the same time carry passengers ten miles 
for a fraction over four cents. This fare holds 
good in the subway also, and it is the very best 
transportation, either under or over ground, I have 
ever seen, and this statement is unqualified. 

"Aida" was booked at the Colon, Saturday after- 
noon, and by imagining myself a millionaire for 
the time being, I attended. Fortunately, consider- 
ing my expense account, all the choice seats were 
sold, so I paid only $10.00 for an uncomfortable, 
neck-twisting nook in the sixth floor circle. By 
using my overcoat for a "lift" in the way of a 
cushion and putting a half turn in my neck, I was 
able to get a fairly good view of the stage, but it 
was like looking down into the Grand Canon from 
the El Tovar balcony. The stage setting for Aida 
was the most elaborate I ever beheld; the scene 
showing the return of Radames being simply gor- 
geous. Wonderful snow-white horses attached to 
the chariot, and coal black ones under stately war- 
riors, whilst the priest's robes were rich beyond 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 187 

description. I found the same weakness, however, 
that is noticeable with us, and that is the ragged, 
irregular movement of the ballet. The chorus girl 
in both North and South America absolutely re- 
fuses to work, evidently thinking a well turned 
ankle and a perfect thirty-six fills the bill. Senor 
Grassi as Radames was a bit stagy, but Roggio 
in the role of Amonasro carried the difficult role 
with dramatic skill. When Claudia Nunzio ap- 
peared in the title role the building almost rocked 
with the wild applause, and it was fully merited. 
I have heard many great artists in this role, but 
not one ever sang it as she did. 

Some weeks later I had the privilege of inspect- 
ing the opera house through the courtesy of Mr. 
Kenney ; he being one of the managing directors I 
was shown every detail of the building, and it 
being closed for the season we were permitted to 
see it from roof to cellar. They had not yet begun 
to renovate it when we went through, and yet it 
had the appearance of having just been overhaul- 
ed. The people take great pride in keeping it in 
perfect condition, and although it is twelve years 
old it has never been redecorated. There are six 
galleries, the lower three being divided into 158 
stalls. On the left-hand side, facing the stage, the 
second and third circles terminate in a palatial 
box reserved for the president of the republic and 
his friends. A similiar box opposite is assigned to 
the mayor and his family. A novel feature is noted 



188 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

in five screened boxes on each side of the lower 
circle, where people, suffering from some recent 
bereavement, and not wishing to be seen in public, 
can attend and be absolutely secluded. The build- 
ing seats 3,200 persons, and every seat was oc- 
cupied the afternoon I attended. Another novel 
feature is the arrangement whereby the entire floor 
can be raised to the level of the stage in twelve 
minutes. In one hour the chairs can be removed, 
thereby producing the finest banquet hall in the 
world. This reconstruction is seldom made, but 
it was done when Roosevelt visited the city several 
years ago. The stage itself covers as much space 
as an ordinary theatre, and is 250 feet from top to 
bottom. A frame work at the top carries cords 
from which can be suspended 160 screens. There 
are complete sets of dressing rooms on the three 
floors surrounding the stage. Men on one side and 
women on the other, and this rule holds good even 
if man and wife are in the same cast. The genial 
old superintendent allowed us to go through the 
property rooms where outfits are kept to stage 
sixty operas. This includes over 7.000 pairs of 
shoes, and these outfits are complete in minute 
detail. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 189 

OLD MEMORIES. 

CHAPTER XV. 

My good friends, Kenny, Pierce, Russell, Lee 
and Old Mexico came to the station to bid me 
good-bye, and so kindly was their "God-speed" I 
felt a real desire to visit them again, although my 
stay in Buenos Aires was marked by the greatest 
physical suffering I have ever had to endure. What 
appeared to be only an insignificant pimple on the 
back of my neck proved to be a vicious case of an- 
thrax, and for a while it was a neck-and-neck race 
between the "Pale Horseman" and myself. He 
would have won had it not been for the marvelous 
care given me by Airs. Hampton, who refused to 
allow me to be taken to the hospital. She had me 
taken to her home instead, where she nursed me 
day and night for fifteen days, never leaving the 
house during that time, and scarcely leaving me. 
It was one of the most heroic cases of Christian 
service I have ever known. It was purely unsel- 
fish, for my only claim upon her was a formal let- 
ter of introduction to her husband from Dunbar 
of the Ford plant in Pittsburgh, and it was heroic, 
for although I was as dangerous to touch as a 
leper, she cared for me and helped to dress the 
wound when the sight of it must have been enough 



190 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

to make a strong man faint. Dr. Roffo told me af- 
ter my recovery that he had a case not nearly so 
severe as mine, and he had the greatest difficulty 
getting a nurse. My debt to these dear people can 
never be repaid. My throat is still bandaged, and 
I look ready to take part in an "Apache waltz," 
but I am very much alive, and duly thankful, for 
statistics show that only five per cent recover 
from the beastly disease. Down here they call it 
the "grande mal" and I can vouch for it being 
properly named, for it is the "big sickness" all right. 
There have been ten weeks of terrible suffering, 
but tender friendships shown me during that 
period fully compensated. There was another in- 
cident brought about by my illness, and the story 
is well worth telling. I was invited to tell the 
American Club something about Buenos Aires 
forty years ago. When the talk ended a gentle- 
man came across the room and said, "So this is 
J. Frank Lanning, Well, I have been searching 
the town over for you, and have just cabled New 
York saying you could not be found. I have some- 
thing of interest to you." He then took a cable- 
gram from his pocket and handed it to me. It 
read ; "Lampman, Buenos Aires. We understand 
our friend J. Frank Lanning is seriously ill in an 
emergency hospital in Buenos. Look him up and 
render any service possible." Signed Worthing-- 
ton Pump Company, Jones. What a wonderful old 
world it is, and how big its heart is if we can only 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 191 

touch it? There have been countless good Samari- 
tans since the story of the first one was told by 
the Master. 

There is special steamer train on sailing days 
that makes no stops, so we reached the docks in 
good shape. The "Highland Laddie : was tied up 
alongside the storage house of the Swift plant 
and busy loading frozen quarters of beef and car- 
casses of mutton. Our train backed down along- 
side, and we were glad to find ourselves on board 
an English ship once more. Lines were cast off at 
5 P. M., and we steamed slowly out of the canal 
to the river, heading for Montevideo and anchored 
inside the breakwater at 7 o'clock the next morn- 
ing. This place calls to mind some sensational 
events worth noting. Forty years ago there was 
no breakwater here, and ships anchored in the 
open roadway, exposed to the pampero, which 
livens things up from time to time in these waters. 
I was sent on shore with the paymaster one after- 
noon for coin of the realm to meet the payroll. 
We were delayed nearly two hours, and it was 
blowing a fitful gale when we left the mole. Re- 
turning we got within three hundred yards of the 
ship when the storm proper hit us. The oars were 
twisted out of our men's hand as if they had been 
taken hold of by giants, and the boat was driven 
helplessly onto the beach. While yet some fifty 
yards from shore we capsized, dumping men and 
money overboard. Fortunately the money was in 



192 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

coin and in a net with buoy attached, and the men 
all good swimmers, so we reached shore safely. 
It was three days before the gale let up so we 
could salvage our "dinero" and get back to the 
ship. During our three days on shore, not hav- 
ing anything better (or worse) to do, I had gotten 
mixed up in a "Blanco Negro" game, which result- 
ed in my share of the recovered coin being prompt- 
ly handed over to the paymaster, who was too 
wise to join the game himself, but was willing to 
stake me, taking my I. O. U.'s for the amount. 
This same port one year later was the scene of a 
tragedy on our ship. The "Hartford" had left 
Hampton Rhoads two years before with one of the 
most vicious crews that had been gotten together 
since the civil war. This fact was emphasized by 
a conversation had with Admiral Nicholson last 
June in Valparaiso. He was attached to the "Hart- 
ford" when I reported for duty, but was transferred 
before she sailed for South America, and in dis- 
cussing the transfer he announced the fact that he 
was "damn glad he did not have to sail with that 
bunch of pirates." It was a tough set, no doubt 
that, but they were made far more vicious by hav- 
ing over them an executive officer whom the naval 
authorities should have sent back to St. Croix, 
where he originally came from, and hooked him 
up with one of his native bull carts, making his 
mission in life hauling sugar cane, instead of being- 
placed in charge of a turbulent force. He tried 



AROtTND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 193 

to adopt the same methods with his crew he had 
used in dealing with his father's bulls and peons, 
hence the sequel. Trouble was brewing before we 
left Norfolk, and it was no wonder Nicholson ex- 
pressed satisfaction at being shifted to another 
berth. There was no lack of discipline, but there 
was a painful lack of mutual understanding be- 
tween some of the officers and the crew. Our cap- 
tain was one of the best of men, and we had two 
or three capable officers like Lieutenant Wood, 
but against them stood our executive officer and 
a watch officer, whose personal welfare was not 
held in tender regard by the other officers or crew. 
This chap had won a commission during the Civil 
War, and by some political pull had been carried 
on with rank of lieutenant. He was a watch of- 
ficer, and his turn in charge of the deck was sure 
to occasion muttered curses from the crew, for 
even in running down the trade winds when wea- 
ther conditions were absolutely changeless, he 
would come on duty at midnight, and take charge 
of a lot of sleepy-heads that had been routed out 
from comfortable hammocks to find almost as 
comfortable resting places on the ship's deck, for 
they could sleep anywhere, the weather being 
warm. Sometimes he would allow two bells to 
strike before the spirit of evil would manifest it- 
self, but then it would be "tell the boatswain's 
mate to get the watch aft and take in slack of wea- 
ther main brace." Sometimes they would get as 



19-1 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

much as one and one-quarter inch, but it would 
serve his purpose of waking up two hundred peace- 
ful sleepers with its attendant grumble and touch 
of hate. Soon as we reached our station the re- 
finement of petty cruelty on the part of our execu- 
tive officer began to be felt. Unduly severe pun- 
ishment was inflicted for minor offenses, and this 
was followed by restrictions and interferences 
with time-honored naval customs, which culmi- 
nated in an order to the sailmaker to construct a 
lot of small canvas bags about the size of a stock- 
ing. When these were completed general quar- 
ters for inspection was called, with men at their 
stations with all their earthly possessions before 
them. A posse accompanied the executive with in- 
structions to gather up all the "ditty boxes" and 
hand out one of the little pokes. Some of these 
boxes were works of art, made of costly woods, 
beautifully inlaid, and were treasured by their 
owners, besides being a great convenience for 
holding their toilet articles, sewing outfits, and 
making a comfortable seat when reading or mak- 
ing their clothing repairs. It was pitiful to watch 
the expression on men's faces when they saw these 
treasures being emptied out and hearing the or- 
der for demolishment. Things began to happen 
immediately after this event, and some weeks la- 
ter a liberty party went on shore at Montevideo 
with more than the usual number of drunks when 
they returned. That night about ten o'clock the 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 195 

quartermaster's attention was called to things 
dropping- over the ship's side into the water, and 
after reporting it to the officer of the deck, he was 
sent down to the gun deck to see what was going 
on. There he found a number of men busily en- 
gaged stripping the guns of all loose material and 
dropping it out the portholes. Hurrying back to 
the upper deck he reported to the officer and gen- 
eral quarters was immediately sounded. Every- 
thing was in confusion, and it was quite sometime 
before the crew was gotten to their assigned 
places. It was then discovered that all the nine 
inch guns on the gun deck had been practically dis- 
mantled. What the men's object was in doing 
this no one could tell, except it was the only way 
they saw to register their dissatisfaction. It termi- 
nated in the arrest and trial of some twenty odd 
of the ringleaders, and a sentence in Auburn prison 
of from two to twenty years for them. Before 
means were found to send them north, four of 
them jumped over board in a foolish effort to get 
on shore, and two of them were drowned ; their 
bodies being found two days later, and so ended 
the only mutiny I ever had to do with. The in- 
cident came back to me vividly as I looked out 
over the familiar scene. Montevideo, like all 
South American cities, shows much development, 
as it is beautified by public plazas and artistic build- 
ings, with every evidence of progress and pros- 
perity, and the personal relation with the United 



196 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

States is closer and kindlier than any one of the 
countries I have visited ; although nothing but the 
greatest courtesy has been shown me throughout 
my journey. It would have pleased me to spend 
sometime here, but many days had been lost and 
matters of importance waited my attention in 
Brazil, so, after a two-days' stay, we headed for 
Rio. As the darkness came on the lights of the 
city flashed out over the waters, reminding me of 
Atlantic City in the midsummer season, and for 
a moment I wished it had been, for that dame 
holding aloft the torch of Liberty would look 
mighty good to me just now. 

Four days later the headlands at the entrance 
of Rio harbor came in view, but a haze hung over 
it all, which spoilt the wonderful picture. As we 
neared the Sugar Loaf we saw the cage passing 
along the aerial line to its top, and decided that 
was a trip we would surely take. It was dark 
before the port formalities were gotten through 
with, and I was in the chief steward's cabin when 
the barge left for shore. It looked as if there 
would be some trouble getting off the ship, but the 
vegetable launch came alongside and I negotiated 
passage on her. Before she was ready to leave a 
rain and wind storm came up, and we all got a 
thorough ducking on the way. Some of my good 
friends who came on shore on the barge expected 
to hear from me next in London. The water-front 
was lit up, and had undergone an entire change 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 197 

leaving not one familiar feature. What had been 
the natural shore in the old days had been built 
up with modern docks, and the lightless landing 
of those days has been turned into an attractive 
plaza. A taxi soon carried me into an avenue, 
that for brilliance and beauty would compare with 
anything of its kind in the world. It was won- 
derful to note, for this same stretch of street was 
but little better than a country lane when I passed 
along it the last time, and doubtless the same mar- 
velous improvement will be found throughout the 
city. 



198 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

SAO PAULO AND SANTOS. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

I decided to visit Sao Paulo and Santos at once, 
so booked passage on the "de Lux" leaving Rio at 
9:30 P. M., and found a well-equipped train of cor- 
ridor Pullmans with two-berth compartments. My 
companion was evidently a bit nervous and wanted 
to prepare for an emergency, for he was in bed 
with all his clothes on, and his shoes close at hand. 
I got into the thinnest of pajamas, and found the 
place hotter than the oft referred to hinges of the 
nether world. I am partial to summer, but was 
nearly parboiled for two hours. By that time we 
began to climb, and the compartment cooled off a 
bit. Later a blanket was required. If the chap 
had been comfortable in the early stages of the 
ride, he must have felt the need of a fur rug before 
we reached Sao Paulo. There was no taxi at the 
station, so a deal was made with an antiquity con- 
sisting of a vehicle, a pair of horses and a gray- 
headed negro ; all of whom were probably born the 
same year. Of course antiques come high, which 
is why the rate was 5,000 reis, but the old negro 
looked as if he might have come from "down home," 
and that was some compensation. Sao Paulo is a 
real business center. Factory chimneys on all sides, 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 199 

and great terminal warehouses, where coffee, the 
leading staple, is stored ready for shipment to San- 
tos. This is the coffee center of Brazil, and if we 
could get the brew served in the States as it is ser- 
ved here, we would not miss the highballs, for it 
is simply delicious. Sao Paulo is a city of 500,000 
inhabitants, and 300,000 of her citizens are Italians 
and their artistic taste is shown in the beautiful 
homes and grounds. There is nothing in Southern 
California or Porto Rico to compare with the pri- 
vate gardens here. At the Paulista Institute on 
Avenida Paulista there is a tree fully forty feet 
high, and it is literally covered with bouganvilla 
vine that makes it a veritable mountain of purple 
glory. Nor can lilies be found in such profusion 
except in South Africa. In fact the entire city is 
a flower garden. There is quite an American 
colony here, and an American Chamber of Com- 
merce, which is doing good work in the way of es- 
tablishing cordial relations in the commercial field. 
A branch of the Y. M. C. A. is active here, and 
doing fine work. 

Saturday, November fifteenth, is the Brazillian 
Fourth of July, and I accepted an ivitation from 
their secretary to accompany the association on 
their picnic to Santos. A special train left at 7:15 
A. M., and we had the privilege of riding over the 
famous cable road down the mountain. The train 
is dropped down a sharp incline by wire ropes for 
nearly two thousand feet, and it would have been 



200 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

a wonderful trip had not a dense fog settled down 
over the mountains just as we left the summit. Only 
veiled glimpses were caught of the picturesque sur- 
roundings, but they made our hearts ache because 
a full view was denied us. 

Santos is greatly improved, and it is now a rea- 
sonably healthy city, but forty years ago it was a 
veritable pesthouse. If I remember correctly there 
were sixteen ships lying at anchor in the harbor. 
Yellow fever was epidemic, and those who had net 
died had deserted, leaving not even a caretaker on 
one of those ships. It was a desolate scene, and we 
were glad to get away. In those days barges were 
loaded on the river front and towed out to the ships 
at anchor, but the river boat for the beach carried 
us past fine docks with great ocean steamers tied 
up alongside. All the ships were decorated with 
flags of every color, and made a gay scene. Our 
boat carried us to the other side of the river, and 
there we boarded a little open-car dinky train that 
carried us across a mangrove swamp and through 
an immense banana grove to the beach. It is quite 
a resort and has one of the finest bathing beaches 
in the world. Blue water comes tumbling in over 
snow-white sand, and makes a perfect summer 
resort picture. A very large hotel faces the beach, 
and is well patronized throughout the year. One 
of the attractions is a Monte Carlo section. A 
large room is fitted up with all the known means 
of tempting fickle fortune, and the roulette wheel 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 201 

gets a hot box every night, because it is kept go- 
ing at such a pace. Being the Y. M. C. A. bunch 
we naturally avoided getting mixed up in any of 
the games, but we all went in to look it over, and 
were entertained by a story of a big killing the 
night before, being told that Senor Somebody had 
carried off six million reis as his winnings after 
three hours play ; but had it been six million dol- 
lars it would not have tempted me, for I passed up 
these propositions years ago. The day passed 
very happily, and we returned to Santos at six 
o'clock. I had joined a delightful group, and think- 
ing we had ample time we made our way to the 
station through the town instead of by the water 
front, thereby losing perhaps five minutes. That 
five minutes, however, was just enough to make 
us miss the train by a scant sixty seconds, and 
it was pitiful to see the expression of despair that 
spread over us when we were told that there was 
no other train until six in the morning-. Mrs. E. had 
a comb, a towel (that had been used at the beach) 
and a powder puff. These were all the toilet ar- 
ticles in possession of the crowd of six, and we 
naturally felt it was impossible for us to stay all 
night, so we held a council of war, and decided on 
an automobile trip. A scouting party was sent 
out with instructions to get a car that could and 
would make the trip, and to catch the breath of 
the driver. We agreed to admit a touch of gar- 
lic, but nothing beyond that in the way of arti- 



202 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

ficial stimulation. The combination was found in 
due time at a cost of 150,000 reis, and then it was 
we wished the lucky winner of the night before 
was of our party so we could stick him for the 
price, but we gladly paid and were soon settled 
for the trip. I was on the back seat with a charm- 
ing girl on each side, and certainly did plead for 
them to "sit close please," wmen we began to climb 
the mountain, for being dressed in regulation sum- 
mer apparel, my appeal was based on necessity. 
The journey was made without the least discom- 
fort, in fact it ended all too soon, as my plea 
brought forth a kindly response. It was a weird 
ride, for the night was inky black, with a bank of 
clouds hanging over the mountains, and this black- 
ness was made more intense by fitful flashes of 
lightning. There are some pronounced hairpin 
curves in the mountains of Porto Rico and along 
the canon walls of the Yosemite, but we rounded 
at least two points on this trip that would make 
the worst curve in Porto Rico look like nothing 
more than a bend in a well balanced race course. 
I am not a nervous party by any means, but am 
free to confess a feeling of relief when the ma- 
chine stopped standing on the left hind wheel in its 
effort to get around a corner. 

It has been a strenuous day, and even my west 
coast pillow of pitiless stone was restful, and I 
w T as soon dreaming of sailing around in an air- 
plane, accompanied by two charming angels, One 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 203 

of the young ladies who was with the party at 
Santos came to the hotel last night, and later we 
went to her home. It was a short distance and 
we walked. Mr. E. and I were walking behind the 
ladies and he told me we were in the "submerged" 
district. This was surprising for the houses were 
very attractive. After leaving the young lady at 
her door we made a tour through the section, and 
found it a fine residential quarter. Side by side 
with elegant homes of noted people and well-to-do 
citizens, were the dens of vice. Broad, uncurtain- 
ed windows held from two to five decorated dames 
alert to flag any possible client who might pass 
by. It was either too early in the evening or else 
trade was slow, for there did not seem to be room 
for any more samples in the windows. We walk-" 
ed slowly, taking in perhaps ten blocks on our 
journey, and were able to study the types briefly, 
Several windows were full of Japanese, and others 
were evidently European, but native women were 
not in evidence. The Poles and Slavs seem to 
dominate the class. Nearly every block has a 
policeman in or near the center, so he can watch 
the situation from a vantage point. It was a glar- 
ing exhibition of vice, and I doubt if its like can 
be found except in the Orient. There is a segre- 
gated section given over to this world-old traffic in 
Montevideo, and we made a tour through it one 
night, but the window display was conspicuous 
for its absence ; the curtains being carefully drawn, 



204 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

but another method was practiced. We found the 
door panels had peep holes bored through, and 
we could see the eyes of the inmates watching 
through. When we would stop in front of one of 
these doors a blooming racket would immediately 
start up. They would pound on the door and in 
one instance a cow bell was vigorously rung. 
"Old Mexico" took exception to this, saying it was 
too suggestive of the beast. Two or three doors 
were cautiously opened, and a liberal display of 
diaphanous covered bodies was shown, but if this 
is seen by the police there is trouble due in that 
particular emporium. Between the two cities the 
lesser evil is likely in Montevideo, for the utterly 
sordid atmosphere in the latter city tends to lessen 
•the desire for that class of entertainment, but 
there is that which is more or less alluring in the 
attractive display of this city. I did not see any 
of the questionable quarter in Buenos Aires, and 
do not think it exists as found here, but the traffic 
goes on just the same. Before leaving Buenos 
Aires I visited a famous (?) joint, having a world- 
wide reputation. It is known as Pig-alles, and is 
the upper floor of a music hall. Here the girls 
engage in open bids on the market, approaching 
and hanging on to a prospective customer tena- 
ciously until they close a deal or see it is hopeless. 
Of the three cases noted, this latter is the most 
pitiful, for one would listen to the appeal and note 
the expression of weary despair when it was found 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA AVITH A SAMPLE CASE 205 

in vain. There are many complaints from ladies 
in Buenos Aires, saying they were constantly being- 
annoyed on the street, and this is largely due to 
the prevailing style of dress. Some of my read- 
ers will recall the play "Johnny Get Your Gun," 
and remember that Johnny came to New York 
when our ladies had just adopted the short skirts. 
After being in the city for three weeks a friend 
met him on the street one day and said, "Johnny, 
what do you think of the New York sky-line?" 
"Sky-line," said Johnny, "What do you mean, sky- 
line?" "Why," said his friend, "the irregular, but 
picturesque tops of the buildings." "Gee whiz," 
said Johnny, "I have not been able to get my eyes 
over eighteeen inches above the ground since I 
have been in New York." Well, Johnny could have 
lifted his gaze at least five inches nearer the sky- 
line any afternoon he chose to walk along Avenida 
Florida. This sort of a thing, in a measure, justi- 
fies men in taking liberties with women, for such 
a display is a bid for an approach. A very amus- 
ing story was told me along this line, and is well 
worth repeating. A very charming American lady, 
a recent bride, by the way, of the export manager 
of a well known Rochester establishment, was 
w r alking along Avenida de Mayo. I might men- 
tion, in passing, that she wears' only the most 
modest of dresses, but she was joined by one of the 
curb lizards. Thinking he had made a conquest, 
he doffed his hat and stood before her smiling, 



206 ABOUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

evidently under the impression he was to receive 
her card. Getting out her purse she handed him a 
peso, at the same time expressing regret that a 
man of his type should be reduced to the necessity 
of begging on the street. He dropped the peso as 
if it had been a super-hot potato, and with a mut- 
tered carambo continued his walk in search of 
someone with not so keen a sense of humor. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 207 

WHERE THE "GENII" LIVE. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

My contact with the trade in Sao Paulo was 
limited, in that many of the factories are owned 
and managed by Italians, and the feeling is 
rather bitter against the States just at this time 
because of our Government's attitude in the Fiume 
episode. This was a matter of profound regret, 
for the city is the center of manufacturing in Bra- 
zil, and a visit to many plants would have furn- 
ished interesting data. I talked with men other 
than Italian to find a feeling of contempt, poorly 
concealed at times, because of our political atti- 
tude. And this feeling* was very pronounced when 
word came that Congress had adjourned without 
the Peace Treaty being signed, thereby putting 
us just back of Bolivia, and in the same class as 
Siam, from the viewpoint of the great world, in- 
stead of being the leaders, as we should be, and 
would have been had we not been in the hands of 
a bunch of petty tin-horn politicians, who would 
send the world to the devil in order to gratify their 
ambition, or put a crimp in the other party. 

The return trip to Rio was pleasant, as a heavy 
rain the night before had cooled the atmosphere 
and settled the dust. I was up early, and after 



208 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

coffee sat in the lounge car for two hours looking 
out upon a scene like the Porto Rican foot-hills 
and distant mountains, but less beautiful. Just 
outside the city of Rio a familiar sign brought me 
to attention, for it read in big letters "Middletown 
Car Co.," and for a moment I half expected to 
hear the brakeman announce "Harrisburg the next 
station, change cars for Reading and the Cumber- 
land Valley ; this train for Pittsburgh and the 
west." But there was no announcement as we 
quietly drifted into the big up-to-date station at 
Rio. The next day was a general holiday, being- 
one of the many feast days so numerous in these 
countries, and I accepted an invitation from Mr. 
Tribe, president of the First National Bank of 
Boston in Buenos Aires, to accompany Mrs. Tribe 
and himself on a trip to Tejuca. The start was 
made at 2 o'clock, and in thirty minutes we were 
clear of the city, and starting our upward climb, 
past beautiful suburban homes, built on sites over- 
looking the city and bay, presenting a picture one 
would never weary of. We travelled a well-built 
road, heavily wooded on either side, which shut 
out the view of everything except the blue sky 
above until we came to the falls. This is a little 
gem, and we spent some time absorbing its charm. 
Soon after leaving the falls we came out upon a 
level spot that had been cleared, so we had a view 
of the city from an altitude of about 2,000 feet, 
but the valley was veiled in a haze of purple that 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 209 

perhaps added to the general beauty, but inter- 
fered with the detail, and an effort to get a photo 
was a failure. This is the highest point on the 
mountain road and leaving, we began to descend 
on the other side. Half way down we stopped 
to inspect the massive boulders thrown together 
at that point. They are much like the noted masses 
found at Ironton, Missouri, being as numerous and 
equal in size. A noisy river finds its way by and 
beneath this picturesque group and on to the great 
ocean, the music of which comes up to us as an 
accompaniment to the song of the river. At the 
base of the mountain we came out upon a road cut 
in the face of granite walls, with the blue waters 
of the Atlantic breaking on the white surf far below 
us. We rode for miles along this wonderful road 
finally reaching Copacabana. On this side we 
passed some rock faces similiar to the granite 
walls of the Yosemite, but these almost perpendi- 
cular walls were covered with a curious cacti, 
which had twisted themselves into interrogation 
points and shorthand hieroglyphics, making a 
curious picture. Copacabana is the immediate sea- 
side resort of Rio, and is happily situated, with its 
background of noble mountains and curved beach 
of snow-white sands, washed by the waters of 
the broad Atlantic, untainted by sewage and other 
filth of the city, and so makes an ideal bathing re- 
sort, when the surf is not too heavy. Many at- 
tractive homes are built here, and many of the 



210 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA AVITH A SAMPLE CASE 

American colony live here throughout the year. A. 
tunnel is cut through from Flamingo on the west 
side of the Sugar Loaf, and a street car line serves 
the citizens. Passing the tunnel a series of six cur- 
ved beaches mark the approach to the city, each one 
with its special mountain background and hand- 
some villas. This drive would bring exclamations 
from the least enthusiastic of mortals, for it is un- 
surpassed in all the world for pure beauty of moun- 
tain, shore and sea. The lights were being lit as 
we turned into Botofogo, and from there on bril- 
liant lights were reflected in the waters and flash- 
ed like fireflies through the dense foliage ahead. 
Much has been written about the Tejuca trip and 
it is very fine, but there are many drives which 
surpass it, and the view from the plateau will in 
no way compare with the picture seen from Cor- 
covado, for from this commanding peak one looks 
out upon all that makes for beauty. I have watch- 
ed the sun go down from the crater rim of Vesu- 
vius and caught my breath in ecstacy, and stood 
on the summit of Mount Hamilton and watched 
the big fog bank roll in from the Pacific, and be 
touched by the glory of the rising sun turning it 
into an opal sea, dotted with magic isles, but when 
one stands on the edge of the jutting peak of Cor- 
covada and looks out over the matchless scene 
of curving beach and granite rock, of fairy islands 
in a magic bay, a toy city sheltered by mighty 
mountains, some of them grim and bare and pon- 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 211 

derous, others like the organ range in the west, 
sending up sharp point surpassing the dolemites 
of the Italian Alps, all other visions pale into in- 
significance. Turn the eyes in any direction and 
unearthly beauty is in view ; beauty of sky and 
cloud and mountain bay and island, and the misty 
blue of the broad Atlantic. This is a place where 
people keep still, or speak in subdued whispers, 
for the genii are all about, and God Himself seems 
very near. Some one with an artist's soul and 
using Kipling's lines as an inspiration, has seen 
Rio, as I see it, and gives his impressions so clever- 
ly I venture to quote him, and regret his name is 
not given, so I could know this seer of beautiful 
visions and dreamer of beautiful dreams, as he 
must be, if he dwells on the hillside of Botofogo 

"Where the sea-egg flames on the coral, and the 

long-back breakers croon, 
Their endless ocean legends to the lazy locked 

lagoon." 

— Rudyard Kipling. 

"It is difficult to explain the seductive charm of 
Rio de Janeiro. Certain places hold one by the 
sense of remoteness ; others by a spell of natural 
and near-by beauty. Rio is one of those cities 
which combines the old and the new, in such an 
atmosphere of tropical splendor and color as to 
make an unforgettable impression. It is an ex- 



212 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

ample of tropic-clad statuary of Nature at her 
best. There is something quieting and beautifully 
magic about the waters in Rio Bay. Outside of 
imagination, there is nothing elsewhere to ap- 
proach its charm, and he who dwells here long 
enough is like one who dreams. 

"In every direction one may look there are moun- 
tains, and a prodigal luxury of verdant hills, one 
rising beyond another and all seeming to be push- 
ing forward as if to keep in view the sparkling, 
smiling waters of the peerless bay. In well-nigh 
every inlet a cluster of low houses, with their 
stucco walls and brown tiled roofs, furnish the 
exact colour shades of white and dull rose to blend 
with and not to jar the deep green of the hills be- 
yond. Here and there a stately royal palm is 
silhoutted on a jutting promontory against the per- 
petual summer sky, keeping one mindful that he 
is living near the equator. 

"Every tiny cove is fringed with an arc of white 
sandy beach, upon which brown-faced children 
play. Great boulders rise out of the sea here and 
there as though they, too, were loath to lose the 
beauty of the scenes above them ; and lest they 
mar the effect, they cover their tops with rich 
foliage and rim their water lines with green sea 
moss. 

"And now the soft tropical twilight is falling over 
the bay. The salt air blows warm but fresh upon 
one's face ; the beat of the great ocean's heart can 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 213 

be counted more distinctly as the evening silence 
falls, and the surf moves further up the sandy 
shore. The lights come out from distant Rio like 
fitful fireflies, first flitting here and there, then be- 
coming more steady in their myriad radiance. On 
many a rocky inlet a lighthouse begins to twinkle 
intermittently, red, white — red, white. 

"The bells of evening come faintly to the ear, 
borne across the water from a small hamlet church 
on a distant curve of the bay ; the night winds sing- 
overhead in the eaves of the palms and tamarinds, 
and the soft-sounding sea that guards Rio takes 
you in its arms like a mother her tired child at 
night, to soothe and bid you forget all care." 

My first visit to Rio was in December 1877, and 
we only remained in the harbor long enough to 
get our mail, for the city at that time was a pest 
hole, almost as fatal as Panama or Guayaquil. At 
that -time thirty-two ships were lying at anchor 
in the bay with not even a caretaker on board their 
crews either being dead or had deserted in fear of 
the fatal fever. We did not anchor, and as soon as 
our carbolic soaked mail was on board we headed 
for the south, spending the summer months at 
Montevideo and Buenos Aires. June found us back 
here, and although the fever still prevailed we were 
willing to risk it in order to enjoy the city, which, 
even at that time, was beautiful. That fever was 
still prevalent was soon proven, for one July after- 
noon when I was on boat duty, the barge was 



214 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

called away, and brought alongside the port gang- 
way. In a few minutes the doctor came over the 
side with what was evidently a very sick man. We 
landed him where the yellow fever flag was flying 
and after we got him on shore and started back to 
the ship I said, "Say, Doctor, what is that chap 
suffering from?" "Yellow fever," was the reply, 
and I nearly fell overboard from sheer fright. In 
five minutes I had every symptom of the plagued 
thing, and was honestly sick by the time we got 
on board. However, I bucked up and determined 
I would not report for the hospital until the last 
minute. I was on boat duty for the 9 P. M. trip 
and made it, but to this day I do not know how I 
did it. We had half an hour to lay at the mole be- 
fore returning to the ship, and as soon as we got 
alongside I sent one of the boys up to the New 
York Hotel, which stood near the water front, 
with orders to buy a quart of cognac, and have the 
cork pulled. When he returned I got busy with 
that bottle. When breathless I rested and had an- 
other pull, and remember saying, "Here boys, fin- 
ish this," and the next conscious moment was an 
awakening with a case of well-known headache, 
but all other symptoms of the fever had disappear- 
ed, and although we buried several of our men, 
all fear of the tropical pest had left me. 

What in these days was the narrow and dirty 
Avenida Central is now the wide and very beauti- 
ful Avenida Rio Branco, and is today one of the 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 215 

most beautiful business streets in the world. The 
Rua Ovedor is still the same narrow way, but the 
dingy curio stores of other days have given place 
to jewelry stores that will rival anything to be 
seen in Fifth avenue or the Paris shops. Instead 
of dusty or muddy roads they now have one of the 
best paved cities in the world, and all ancient filth 
and defilement is a thing of the past. Even the 
church walls being sacred, seemingly, which in the 
old days furnished the public comfort station. There 
has been a wonderful clean-up, and neither eye or 
nostril were offended during my stay of two weeks 
in the city. 

I was up early Sunday morning and at the Cen- 
tral Station by 8:15 to meet my good friends the 
Essers, who came over from Sao Paulo on the 
night train. After getting them comfortably set- 
tled, an arrangement was made for a trip to the 
Botanical Gardens. A mental picture of this place 
had lingered in my mind for forty odd years, and 
its beauty had been heightened by both song and 
story dealing with its wonders, but immediate con- 
tact brought a cruel disillusionment. The Avenue 
of Royal Palms is there, and it is truly wonder- 
ful, but remove that and the everyday visitor will 
find little to interest him. The grounds are 
wretchedly kept. Rotting palm branches are piled 
along the walks, which are grass-grown in many 
places and strewn with dead leaves. Altogether 
there is an atmosphere of unpicturesque neglect. 



216 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

There is a great variety of trees, which doubtless 
would interest the naturalist, but none of these 
trees, save the Royal palm and a few Ceibas, have 
any claim to beauty. In fact, given the Royal Elm 
avenue in Wallingford, Conn., with a half dozen 
New England oaks, and the lover of the beautiful 
would unhesitatingly turn his back upon the 
Botanical Garden, and very soon forget it ever 
existed. There is an almost total absence of flow- 
ers, and a few birds, and so a sense of lonliness is 
felt throughout the time spent in it. The object 
is to keep as near to nature as possible, but we 
sometimes overdo this nature business. The plant- 
ing of a few flamboyant and other flowering trees 
would give the place an inexpressible charm, if 
at the same time, it could be kept reasonably free 
from rubbish, for the location is picturesque, with 
Corcovada standing guard above it. 

The restaurant that was opposite the main ( n- 
trance has been removed, much to my regret, for 
it was in this place I had my first sad experience 
with an unknown tongue. My friend Wilkenson 
and I tramped through the garden for two hours, 
and were hungry. When the waiter inquired if 
we would have French or English soup we both 
called for French, possibly because it was men- 
tioned first, for we had no idea what would be 
served us. We found it delicious and I called for 
the second plate, at the same time telling the 
waiter in my best sign language to tell me what 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 217 

it was made of. He understood all right, but his 
education along this line had been neglected, so he 
tried in vain to answer my question verbally. 
When we finished and were enjoying our coffee 
and cigarette a brilliant idea came to the waiter. 
He came in with the same expression on his face 
Columbus had when he heard "Land Ho" called. 
He was about to execute a stroke of genius, and 
coming to my side of the table he opened a shell 
he held in his hand and dropped a loathsome worm 
on my plate. The plate was tilted and it slid across 
it leaving a trail, and this beast was the basis of 
the famous soup. It was a case of "one look and 
all was over." Standing on the site nearly half 
a century later I felt a momentary upheaval, and 
perhaps it is just as well no opportunity was given 
to lunch in the old place, for this same memory 
might have intruded and interfered materially. 

One of Mr. Niles' good letters brought me in 
contract with Mr. Swingley who has charge of 
the Du Pont interests in South America. This let- 
ter secured for me a fourteen-day card to the 
"Club Central," an invitation to the Chamber of 
Commerce dimmer, and, best of all, the privilege of 
having my Thanksgiving dinner with Mr. Swing- 
ley and his charming lady. It fell short on turkey, 
cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and celery; not one 
of which was in evidence, but it was more than 
made up for by the atmosphere of kindliness all 
about, and the subjects of mutual interest so happi- 



218 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

ly discussed. Mental pictures of other Thanks- 
giving dinners presented themselves, and I re- 
called the first green corn of the season served in 
far off Johannisburg on this National day, with 
watermellon for desert instead of pumpkin pie ; 
and years later a wonderful dinner with all the de- 
tails complete at the Seville in Havana, but grim 
tragedy sat at the table with us, for two hearts 
were aching and breaking, although the lips smil- 
ed and jested for two awful hours. I want to for- 
get this and remember the perfectly happy night 
spent with my good friends the Robinsons of Liver- 
pool, who shamed me by remembering the day 
and served me a perfect Thanksgiving dinner, 
when I had utterly forgotten for the time. So 
memory casts back over the years and celebrations 
in distant places; some sad, but many full of joy- 
ful recollection. 

Saturday did not bid fair for an excursion, but 
as my time was getting short I decided to risk a 
trip to Petropolis. Rain-filled clouds were roll- 
ing in from the ocean, but an occasional glint of 
sunshine bid us hope. The sun was shining when 
we reached the foot-hills, but the cog road had not 
carried us 500 feet before we were enveloped in a 
dense fog bank, blotting out everything except a 
nearby waterfall from time to time and the rugged 
road we were mounting. This road is not nearly 
so attractive as the similar road from Sao Paulo 
to Santos ; the Santos road being much more 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 219 

abrupt, better built, and the general scenery more 
beautiful, but Petropolis itself is surely a gem. A 
scotch mist was falling, but we hired a decrepit 
outfit and drove around town. It was beautiful 
even under the adverse conditions, and on a fair day 
it must be an earthly paradise. A modest river 
has been walled in and runs through the center of 
the town. These walls were banked with hy- 
drangeas in full bloom, and to further enhance 
the beauty of the mountain stream, flamboyant and 
other brilliant flowering trees are interspersed with 
the pepper and almond and other trees of rich 
foliage. There are many homes of extreme ele- 
gance, as this was for years the summer home of 
the emperor and wealthy Brazilians, for in the 
days of the empire a stay at Rio during the sum- 
mer months would have been fatal ; the yellow 
pest being epidemic always. Now, however, the 
city is preferable, being safe, and the beach front 
of Copacabana and the foot-hills of Tejuca afford 
home sites just as comfortable and comparatively 
free from the cloud cap, which hangs eternally 
over Petropolis. It is therefore losing its pres- 
tige as a summer resort and will ultimately drop 
back to a trading point, with codfish dealers and 
coffee traders getting cheap rent in palatial homes, 
but let us hope they will never neglect the flower 
possibility of the place, for nowhere can they be 
found in such profusion or greater beauty. 

A trip had been made to the top of the Sugar 



220 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

Loaf one week ago, but it was cloudy, so this 
morning (Sunday) with a brilliant sun to start 
with, we decided for another venture. A tram car 
from Avenida Hotel carries one out past the medi- 
cal school and hospital for the insane to the termi- 
nal of the Air Line (literal this time) for the Sugar 
Loaf. A cage, holding- sixteen to twenty people,, 
according to size, is suspended on heavy wire 
cables and carried us to the summit of Arnca. 
This is a sort of half-way house, and time is given 
and pressure is brought to bear .upon tourists 
to drink some warm beer and eat attenuated sand- 
wiches. We fell for it in order to enjoy the nov- 
elty, and novelties come high always, for we paid 
$2.50 for one real life-sized sandwich, so scientifi- 
cally constructed that it bore the outward appear- 
ance of being three, but we could look out over 
a scene, one view of which would be worth ten 
times what we paid. A walk of perhaps two hun- 
dred yards brought us to the second starting point, 
Arnca at this point is very abrupt and the cage 
swings out over a profound depth at once. A 
beautiful bit of curving beach lies almost beneath 
on the ocean side, and off to the left is spread the 
panorama of marvelous beauty already seen from 
Corcovada, and described from that viewpoint. 
The trip is far less sensational than one would sup- 
pose, viewing it from below, but it does give one 
a thrill to be thus suspended twixt heaven and 
earth, and, at the center of the last reach, those 







:#ii|^llt|£ r 




Hold On To The Rope. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 221 

wires look confoundedly frail. The view from the 
top of the Sugar Loaf is equally impressive as 
that from Corcovada and infinitely more so than 
from Tejuca, but Corcovada being 1,000 feet high- 
er the view is more comprehensive, and sightseers 
should visit the Sugar Loaf first, as it cannot take 
anything from the glory from Corcovada, whilst 
Corcovada does dim the glory of his lesser brother 
somewhat. We remained at the top until clouds 
gathered about us, and were then interested in 
watching the breaks come, giving a view of some 
rapturous picture magnified because concentrated. 
This peep hole would close and another open re- 
vealing a vision still more entrancing, and sorry 
we were to finally leave our mountain perch for 
the common earth below. This is the early sum- 
mer season, and there have been some few very 
hot days, with two or three uncomfortable nights, 
but it is doubtful if it ever gets as distressing as 
in New York or Pittsburgh during midsummer, 
for a refreshing sea breeze is sure to come in the 
afternoon and the land breeze sets in by 10:30 at 
night. 

A shopping trip in Rio for the first time is sure 
to give one a jolt, for when 300$000 stares one in 
the face as the price of a suit of clothes, and 
70$000 for a pair of shoes, with a wild array of 
figures on all other necessary habiliments, they 
are inclined to pray for weather just a little warm- 
er, so they might consistently revert to the fig leaf, 



222 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

and bare feet. The fact that 300$000 only repre- 
sents about $95.00 in real money makes the figure 
none the less staggering, and the humor of Mark 
Twain's lunch in Madeira before he became ac- 
quainted with their money values is quite appar- 
ent. As he tells it., a party of four had lunch in 
one of the seemingly modest restaurants, ordering 
a bottle of wine, Avhich he had been told was very 
cheap on the Island. It was Twain's treat, z nd 
he stopped for a moment when he saw the foot- 
ing read 31$500. Taking out his wallet contain- 
ing $800.00 and unhooking his watch from the 
chain, he laid them on the table ; then turning 
solemnly to the waiter said, "If this is not suffi- 
cient to settle my bill, you can go to hell." 

There are several large industries in and around 
Rio. Three cotton mills employing about 1,800 
people each, and a match factory in Nichtheroy 
being the largest in the way of factories, but there 
is a ship building plant of considerable importance 
situated on one of the larger islands at the upper 
end of the bay. I visited the match factory and 
was shown through it in detail by the courteous 
manager, Senor Maderos. It is up to date in every 
sense of the word, speed being the watchword. 
They employ 700 people, and turn out 700,000 
boxes of wood and wax matches daily. They are 
equipped with a regular cotton mill for the latter 
product, and the process of spinning, twisting, dip- 
ping and cutting is very interesting, and the fur- 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 223 

ther process of heading, boxing, labelling and 
stamping reminds me of the cigarette machines in 
the Camel factory at Winston-Salem, the machine 
here being almost as ''human" in its automatic 
work. The Rotary Club stopped off at Winston 
en route to Atlanta for the convention, two years 
ag, and we visited the Camel plant. Standing be- 
side one of the cigarette machines and watching 
it take a ribbon of paper, drop the exact amount 
of tobacco on it, roll and seal the edge, cut off at 
the rate of 580 per minute, and neatly drop them 
into the rack, brought a quaint comment from one 
of our Allentown brothers. Laying his hand on 
my shoulder he said : "If you would say hello to 
dat tarn ting it would tell you to shut up and don't 
pother me, I vas busy." The match machines im- 
press one the same way. 

Rio has a superb electric outfit, the Light and 
Power Company furnishing light and power to 
factories, warehouses and homes at a very rea- 
sonable rate. This is made possible by harnessing 
the falls at Ribeiro las Lages, some fifty miles 
from the city. They generate nearly 100.000 H. 
P., and increase it from time to time by adding 
more machines. This company operates the street 
cars of Rio, and give rather slow, but efficient ser- 
vice ; the cars being kept clean and the conductors 
patient with pilgrims who seek information in an 
unknown tongue, and fret when the answers are 
not given so they can understand. Taking it full 



224 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

and by, Brazil has the best of the game over all 
other South American countries, being blessed 
with inexhaustable natural resources, which, in 
time, will be developed and make of her in many 
cases a rival of the U. S. Disease still has a grip 
upon the people in many sections, and this is a 
serious handicap; for the authorities have to deal 
with a primitive people in great numbers, and un- 
til they are reached with some degree of educa- 
tion they must count on these plagues of small- 
pox and yellow fever. Rio is singularly free, as 
before stated, but other large cities in the Republic 
suffer sadly, simply because they cannot control 
these citizens as yet. However, all this will be 
cleared up in the near future. Bahia, Para and 
Pernambuca are not nearly as pest ridden today as 
Rio was forty years ago, and in less than half that 
time we will see these cities in the same class 
with Rio, so far as general health goes, and when 
this is brought about Brazil will put the famous 
Garden of Eden in the "also ran" class. 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 225 

FAREWELL TO RIO. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Our ship was booked to sail November twenty- 
second, but the date was advanced from time to time 
until final word came saying we would surely leave 
December 1st. There was no regret because of 
the delay, for had she sailed on the twenty-second 
many pleasant and profitable hours would have 
been missed, but the delay allowed me to attend 
to my business successfully, and a chance to see 
something of this wonderful land. The Inter- 
national Machinery Company, and the Grace Com- 
pany gave me every assistance and did everything 
to make my stay pleasant. Then too there is the 
Roof Garden of the Palace Hotel and the "Missouri 
Waltz" with one dear girl who could dance. The 
result of my recent illness still lingers, but this 
was forgotten and for the time being I was a boy 
again. She and her husband came to the ship to 
bid me adieu, and each of us agreed that we would 
never hear the strains of the "Missouri" without 
seeing the white walled roof, and have a vision of 
the fairy lights reflected on mirrored waters, with 
battlements of shadowy mountains all about us, 
and overhead the purple dome with Orion's bril- 
liant sword and belt under the red glare of Aide- 



226 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

baran and Canopus scintillating like a mighty 
diamond in the midst of the starry host. Moore 
tell us ; "If woman can make the worst wilderness 
dear, Think, think what she would make of the 
Vale of Cashmere." Well, had he gotten to Rio 
under happy conditions he would never have writ- 
ten these oft quoted lines, in that he could not 
make "dear" and "Rio" fit in any way, and Cash- 
mere would have been forgotten. It was nearly 
six o'clock when we left the dock and before we 
passed out of the bay the city was ablaze with 
lights, presenting a new picture to our delighted 
gaze. The avenida lights along- the water-front 
following the graceful curves of the seven semi- 
circular bays between the city and the Sugar Loaf 
made a perfect festoon, with a perfect reproduc- 
tion reflected from the face of the sparkling wa- 
ters. This gem-like beauty ended at the base of 
the Sugar Loaf, which was all the more grim be- 
cause of the entrancing beauty that lay at its feet. 
Its granite walls shut out the wondrous scene, and 
a half-smothered sigh struggled for expression as 
the view narrowed and finally faded. As we pas- 
sed out into the Atlantic the lights of Copacabana 
came into view. This beach is a vast semi-circle 
lit at regular intervals with powerful electric 
lights, and at a distance of four or five miles it re- 
sembled a necklace of iridescent pearl stretched 
out upon a black velvet cloth. The lighthouse at 
the extreme end further carried out the illusion, 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 227 

being the diamond pendant ready to drop into place 
when clasped about the throat of Aphrodite at 
the Sea Nymphs' ball. A glow, soft as the color of 
a butterfly's wing, lit up the spaces between the 
hills ; the Sugar Loaf silhouetted against it in clear 
outline and crowned with a brilliant light resem- 
bling a wonderful star far up in the heavens. Back 
and beyond this "Watchman at the Gate," stood 
Corcovada and his many brothers of the eternal 
hills, all touched with a lambient light. Perhaps 
the twilight hour in "Jerusalem the Golden" may 
be something like this, but it could not be more 
beautiful. The aforementioned sigh escaped in 
full volume as the sea and shore line blended. 
Farewell Rio, and may I see your glorious face 
from Corcovada once more before I book my 
final passage ! 

I am doomed to experience the greatest discom- 
fort since leaving New York, and the slow speed 
of this ship would indicate at least thirty days of 
it. She is overcrowded, and I am herded in with 
two other pilgrims. Thank heaven, they are both 
gentlemen in manner and habit, so it might be 
worse. Added to my other discomforts is an army 
of children, one of whom is provided with my pet 
aversion in the shape of a mouth organ. The in- 
ventor of this instrument of torture should be 
classed with the maker of the first Klaxon horn, 
and I shall ask for a week-end vacation for at 
least one million years in order that I may go 



228 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

down to their rightful habitation and watch them 
burn. And should the stokers show signs of 
fatigue during my visits they will have a cheerful 
volunteer to help them shovel coal. 

The first three days out from Rio found me 
hanging over the ship's bow, it being the only quiet 
spot to be found between 4 A. M., and midnight. 
There is a good Samaritan on board, a Mr. Ward, 
and he noticed my distress with due sympathy, 
and told me he would see what could be done to 
help me out.' The next morning he was on guard 
at the main gangway, and when I joined him he 
said, "I am looking for the captain, and when he 
comes along we will both tackle him for the use 
of the chart room for you." Just then the cap- 
tain came along, and assuming a solemn counte- 
nance I said : "Captain, I am like unto the voices of 
the wandering wind, which moan for rest but rest 
can never find, except when hanging over the 
bow, and writing is quite impossible there. Can 
you find me some quiet corner that can be called 
my own for three or four hours each day?" "Sure 
I can," he said, "Come along with me," and he 
took me to the chart room where he cleared the 
desk telling me I was welcome to its use at all 
hours day or night. This is a great privilege, 
and will insure me a chance to link up my notes. 
Ward seems as well pleased as myself, and is now 
in search of some other mortal in distress. Had 
he lived in the days of old he would have been a 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 220 

knight errant, for he is ever ready to render un- 
obtrusive service, with a kindly word for all oc- 
casions. There is a sad heart on board going home 
from Rio with her two babies, the oldest four and 
the other less than one year old. In the hold, 
sealed in lead, is the body of her loved one. He was 
romping in the surf at 5 o'clock, and at eight that 
same evening was dead. A brilliant naval career 
was ended, leaving a pitiful stretch of lonely years 
before his loved one and her kiddies. Ward, with 
his ever ready smile, frequently breaks the trend 
of her sad thoughts, when childish prattle of 
Daddy brings tears to her eyes. There are several 
fine fellows on board, and already many delightful 
hours have been spent with genial Captain Robin- 
son. He is a typical English sea captain, with a 
fund of sea tales, and the ability to tell them well, 
and there is sure to be many a first watch kept un- 
til the relief comes on at midnight with he and I 
on the bridge or in his cabin. 

The picturesque mountains of Rio and vicinity 
have given place to flat shore line, not unlike the 
Jersey coast as we approach Bahia. The city is 
located at the mouth of a bay greater in extent 
than is the body of water back of Rio, but is un- 
interesting. The city covers a series of abrupt 
bluffs, and makes an attractive picture from an- 
chorage, and that is all we will see of it, as there 
is a plague of smallpox raging, with from forty to 
sixty dying daily, and yellow fever released its 



230 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

grip on the place less than a month ago. There 
are still sporadic cases of fever and one case of 
bubonic is reported, so an order was posted telling 
us no passengers would be allowed ashore. This 
was the ruling of the health authorities, but a 
horde of negro stevedores overran the ship for 
thirty hours, rubbing elbows with the passengers 
and lounging in our chairs during the night. An 
"inspection of arms" was the order of the day, and 
the question "have you been vaccinated?" religi- 
ously asked. Everbody was pronounced immune 
and of course we are, and could have gone ashore 
in absolute safety. This is my first visit to Bahia, 
and not getting on shore is a great disappointment. 
One thousand tons of coffee, sugar and coca beans 
were taken on board, and at 5 P. M. Sunday we 
headed out the bay for Para. We have as passen- 
ger with us Dr. Hackett, the noted bacteriologist, 
who is in charge of the Rockefeller Foundation 
work in Brazil and has been identified with that 
organization for many years. Last night he told 
me an interesting story of how. an appeal for help 
after the great storm in Porto Rico the fall of 
1901 brought a shipload of provisions to the strick- 
en island, and how, after feeding the people they 
still had the appearance of being starved. Dr. 
Ashford reached the conclusion that some disease 
had fastened upon them. His investigation demon- 
strated that practically every one on the island 
was suffering- from what had been known for many 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 231 

years in Europe as tunnel disease, but not sus- 
pected on this side of the water. Further investi- 
gation showed that persons affected had their 
efficiency cut down from an ability to pick eight 
measures of coffee in harvesting to a struggle to 
pick one in a, day. 

Dr. Styles, acting on information from Dr. Ash- 
ford, arriving in Washington, inaugurated a cam- 
paign to ascertain if this disease had gotten a foot- 
hold in the States. He found an appalling condi- 
tion existing throughout the Southland, and learn- 
ed that our so-called lazy niggers and still more 
worthless whites, were really suffering from this 
insidious disease. The known data was laid be- 
fore Mr. Rockefeller in 1908, and a million dollars 
were given by him, having in view the arrest and 
elimination of this plague. It was a heroic task, 
as it was found that millions and millions of peo- 
ple located in a belt around the world from about, 
thirty degrees above the equator to thirty-six de- 
grees below, were its victims, and other millions 
were added to the first amount in order to go after 
the thing properly. This fund is now one hundred 
and fifty millions of dollars, and is being used in 
the investigation of all the chief diseases which af- 
fect mankind. It has been instrumental in almost 
removing- yellow fever from the earth, and reduc- 
ing the area and virulence of other diseases. Data 
gathered in Brazil by Dr. Hackett shows that over 
fifteen million of the inhabitants are sufferers from 



232 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

hookworm, and they are being treated at the rate 
of 50,000 each month. The organization has ten 
stations and is being ably supported by the Brazil- 
ian government, the arrangement being for the 
foundation to appropriate one quarter the amount 
of the funds necessary to carry on* the work, to 
which the state adds another quarter. The federal 
government then contributes the other half, and 
the work goes on. Although it was rather a grue- 
some story of suffering and frequent death, it was 
yet fascinating to learn how a pesky larva enters 
the foot, usually by way of the tender tissue be- 
tween the toes, works itself into the blood; passes 
through the heart and into the lungs. There, get- 
ting into one of the minute veins, and being block- 
ed, it proceeds to bore its way to freedom, and fur- 
ther cussedness by way of the air chambers. From 
the air chambers it reaches the windpipe and is 
swallowed, reaching its permanent home in the 
intestines. Once there in sufficient numbers they 
will drain three or four ounces of the victim's blood 
daily, the loss of which will soon send the sufferer 
into the kingdom of worms. It is comforting to 
know a specific has been found, and that from two 
to five treatments effect a permanent cure, barring 
further infection. 

We also have Dr. McCall and his wife and daugh- 
ter with us going home for a much needed rest after 
three and one-half years' labor in the Presbyterian 
mission of Brazil. The doctor preached a very 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA AVITH A SAMPLE CASE 233 

able sermon today, taking for his text "It is I. 
be not afraid," and reading the 107th Psalm, laying 
great stress on the 23rd and 24th verses. It was 
a sermon for those who go down to the sea in 
ships, that do business in great waters, and he 
materially helped us "see the works of the Lord 
and his wonders in the deep." Dr. McCall is in 
charge of field work in Northern Brazil, and seems 
hopeful of the future, although he has encounter- 
ed the keenest opposition during the greater part 
of the twenty-seven years he has put in at this 
work. But patience and faith has gained ground 
everywhere, and they no longer feel the need of 
a fort in which to conduct their divine services. 
Mrs. McCall, who has served twenty years, told 
how on one occasion they huddled in an inner 
room and listened to the bombardment lasting un- 
til after midnight. Curiously enough it was a re- 
production of an old bible incident. In this par- 
ticular town lived another Demetrius, only he 
worked in wax, and was a maker of figures of the 
many saints, and when he learned of Dr. McCall's 
coming he got busy and doubtless said to the peo- 
ple "moreover ye see and hear ; that not alone at 
A Lapa but almost throughout Brazil this man 
McCall hath persuaded and turned away much 
people, saying that they be no saints which are 
made by hand, so that not only this one craft is 
in danger to be set at naught ; but also that the 
temple of Our God should be despised and her 



234 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Brazil 
and the world worshipeth." We read that when the 
people of Ephesus heard these sayings they were 
full of wrath and the whole city was filled with 
confusion. Unfortunately in this case there was 
no town clerk to appease the people, and they 
threw stones and invectives until they finally grew 
weary and retired. The doctor and his family 
made an early start the next morning, and es- 
caped further assault. It seems the priests, for 
many years, told the people our missionaries were 
servants of the devil first, and any time they had 
left over after his ministry was fulfilled was put 
in with the object in view of subjugating the land 
and making the people vassals of the United States, 
and they were earnestly called upon to rise and 
thrust out the insidious invaders, but they were 
now learning that this same insidious invader 
brings with him medicine to cure their physical 
ills and imparts knowledge whereby they learn 
how to get the most out of their narrow lives. That 
he touches their sympathy with a music they can 
understand, and shows them wonderful pictures of 
the outside world with the aid of a portable magic 
lantern, and so they are being taught the truth that 
makes men free. 

We have been sailing about 100 miles from the 
coast in order to escape the many bad places shown 
on the chart, but turned in during the night and 
took on the pilot at 4:30 this morning. The in- 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 235 

tense blue water we have been riding through for 
the past week has given place to a jade color, which 
grows deeper every hour as we approach the mouth 
of the mighty river. Captain Robinson tells me he 
has seen the water discolored 200 miles from the 
coast during the March floods, and at that time a 
great wedge of fresh water is driven into the body 
of the ocean and ships can fill their water tanks 
from it miles from shore. Americans are told we 
have the "Father of Waters," but that being so, 
the Amazon must be the grandfather all right. 
We anchored five miles from the landing at Para, 
and yesterday all hands left the ship in the com- 
pany tug for a visit on shore. It was at this place 
the romance of rubber was written (see library 
book on rubber.) This is also the shipping point 
for the woods of Brazil, which are world famous 
for beauty and utility. The Brazil wood, for in- 
stance, produces a valuable dye, and at the same 
time is more beautiful than the finest mahogany. 
The Jacaranda also produces a dye and is used 
extensively for veneer, but the most remarkable 
is the Pau roxo. This has a fine grain and is a 
rich purple, producing a lasting dye. Another 
beautiful wood is the Peroba rosa. This has a 
smooth even grain and is the color of peach blos- 
soms. Nothing in the way of wood could be more 
dainty, in shade. This produces a medicine similar 
to quinine in taste and effect, and the wood is 
used for the construction of fine cabinet work, not 



236 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

only because it is attractive, but the wood-eating 
worms, so plentiful in this country, steer clear of 
it. Then there is the "Angelim rejado" like the 
oak in appearance, but mottled with old oak and 
gold attractively blended; the Pau Santo (holy 
wood) very like black walnut ; the ivory wood, a 
creamy white that finishes up to look like its name, 
and a cedar that rivals the trees of Lebanon. Ar- 
tistic woodwork could be developed from material 
gotten here that would be royal. 

The city of Para has nothing specially attrac- 
tive except countless Mango trees. It is literally 
shaded with this most beautiful tree and the broad 
avenues with tile-front houses each with more or 
less of a flower garden attached, makes a pleasing 
picture. The equator is only a few miles north 
from here, yet midsummer in Pittsburgh is much 
hotter, and although it lies at the edge of a vast 
swamp the general health of its citizens is good. 
The captain and I visited the Botanical garden and 
Zoo finding it more attractive to the casual obser- 
ver than the more famous garden in Rio. They 
have a large collection of the birds and animals 
of the country, and in the museum many relics of 
the aboriginees. Altogether the day ,was w&ll 
spent. The pilot came on board early this morn- 
ing (Thursday December eighteenth), and at 10:30 
we were on our way to Barbados. A refreshing 
breeze came across the water to us from the near- 
by shore, and it was equal in sweet perfume to the 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 237 

zephyrs from Arcady the blest. A delay in get- 
ting the clearance papers this morning put us back 
nearly two hours, and we were compelled to an- 
chor for the night off Gavotas shoals, which means 
another twelve hours lost. 



238 ABOUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

"FATHER NAPKIN." 

CHAPTER XIX. 

An early start was made this morning, and at 
noon the pilot left us. The dim shore line of Bra- 
zil was yet visible, but we changed our course to 
N. by W. at once and soon lost sight of land. We 
crossed the equator at 4 P. M., but most of us are 
already Sons of Neptune, and some are foster bro- 
thers of the King, so his Majesty did not visit the 
ship. One of the kiddies came to me with eyes 
sparkling and asked if "Father Napkin" was com- 
ing to see us. It was near enough for me to un- 
derstand, and I was able to tell her that "Father 
Napkin" had another job on hand, and it was 
doubtful if we would see him this trip. The little 
sinner seemed disappointed, because she wanted 
to see them "throw the mans overboard." It has 
been a delightful afternoon with the trade wind 
blowing fresh and cool, making a sharp contrast 
to my last crossing at this point. We then ran in- 
to a rain storm when within a few miles of the line, 
and the wind ceased, leaving us in a dead calm. For 
three days we drifted helplessly, whilst the rain 
fell in streams, and this is literally true. Had the 
sky been a tank holding a million tons of water, 
with half inch holes bored in its bottom, the effect 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 239 

would not have been different. By the time we 
got out of the rain belt the ere wwas actually par- 
boiled, and the sun never looked so good to me 
before or since as it did the afternoon we broke 
through into his beneficient radiance. 

We have had six heavenly days sailing over a 
laughing sea, and at ten o'clock this morning the 
hazy outline of Barbados appeared on the horizon. 
It was nearly noon before the shore became dis- 
tinct, but everybody was on deck speculating as 
to the time we would make anchor, and how long 
we would be on shore. We found a number of 
American and English ships in the bay, and an- 
chored in their friendly company. The ship was 
soon surrounded with a vociferous bunch of boat- 
men yelling their heads off soliciting fares for 
the shore. Other boats had naked divers to en- 
tertain us, one making the trip under the ship's 
bottom and on up the other side for the modest 
sum of one shilling. Our party caught the "Fire- 
fly" and literally danced over the waters to the 
landing. There was, apparently, the same crowd 
of negroes I saw here forty years ago. The old 
section of the town is just as it was then, but great 
improvements have been made on the island. Two 
of the taxi solicitors followed me for more than a 
block pestering me to take a ride around the town. 
No attention was paid to them whatever, and 
finally one of them said, "Its no use, he is a damn 
German doctor." I had just purchased a heavy 



240 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

shark bone cane, and reached for him, but the coon 
was a little too quick in his getaway. However, he 
found out I was no German, and he also discover- 
ed what branch of the animal kingdom he origi- 
nated from. The streets were lined with donkey 
carts and thronged with a motley horde of every 
stage of dress and undress. People were busy 
marketing, for tomorrow is Christmas, but there 
is nothing in the surroundings to suggest the day. 
How the eyes of these natives would bulge if they 
could walk through Lexington Market in Balti- 
more at this same hour ! 

The island has a most interesting history al- 
though it has remained under the English flag since 
its discovery. King Charles lost it in a poker game 
with the Earl of Carlisle in 1627, but forgot he 
had used it to settle a former obligation with 
Marlborough, and at the same time ignored cour- 
teous original settlers, which brought on civil 
war. Heads were freely broken, but the Carlisle- 
ites got the best of it and established Bridgton, 
which has remained the Capital. The island is 
small, but has a population of over two hundred 
thousand. It is much overcrowded but quite pros- 
perous, as it produces much sugar, and some cot- 
ton, and is self-sustaining so far as vegetables go. 
It is unattractive when compared with Porto Rico 
or Jamaica, but the climate is delightful and the 
people seem content. 

Today is Christmas and there has been some ef- 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 241 

fort put forth to entertain the kiddies with a toy 
tree and some small gifts, but the Christmas spirit 
has been woefully lacking, and the day has been 
deadly dull. We are doomed to spend New Years 
in the same listless manner, but each hour brings 
Broadway at least seven knots nearer. Although 
the day was stupid the sunset at night was won- 
derful. The great dome was deep blue, shading 
down to pale turquoise, and this in turn merged 
into a dainty shade of old rose. Finally three- 
fourths of the horizon was banded with salmon 
pink, and flecked with small clouds of copper hue. 
A few minutes later the lower sky in the east 
became rose pink, and the clouds a pale olive green, 
whilst the sun passed behind a bank of blackness. 
This cloud immediately was edged with liquid gold, 
and in a few minutes the sun blazed out beneath, 
giving it the appearance of the open door of a 
fiery furnace. This brought about an entirely new 
combination of colors. A film of golden lace float- 
ed over the western sky and through it shone the 
slender horn of the new moon, silver bright, whilst 
the firmament took on every shade of mauve, pale 
green, blue and pink. I staid on the bridge until 
all light had faded save that of the baby moon, and 
watched Altair hang out his blue-white light low- 
in the northwest. In another minute the angry 
eyes of Taurus looked down upon us. Another 
moment and the sky was a blaze of glory, with 
Orion and his brilliant host ; his belt and sword 



242 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

made up of glittering stars and mysterious nebula. 
Then out of a cloud bank came Sirius, well named 
the "Light of Heaven" by Egyptian priests. Pro- 
fessor Serviss tells us "the renown of Sirius is as 
ancient as the human race. There has never been 
a time or a people in which or by whom it was 
not worshipped, reverenced and admired. To the 
builders of the Egyptian temples and pryamids it 
was an object as familiar as the sun itself." No 
doubt the builders of the temple in Tihuanaca fif- 
teen thousand years ago began some festive rite 
at the heliacal rising of this same monarch of the 
sky. But he has a close rival in this hemisphere, 
for Canopus sends out the same diamond flashes 
and both, when seen through a good glass, are al- 
most blinding. 

I was up this morning at 5 o'clock, and can un- 
derstand what prompted the Psalmist to speak of 
the morning stars singing together. He saw the 
heavens in his day as I saw them this morning. 
Orion and his cavalcade were low in the west, but: 
his splendor was undimmed. Canopus had gone to 
bed, but, in his place, shone the Southern Cross, 
almost upright in the sky, and by its side, as if to 
guard it from harm, were the great suns of the 
Centuri. High in the north the Great Bear hung in 
heavenly beauty, with Arcturus shedding light, 
which started on its journey to earth fifty years 
ago. Near the zenith Spica was sending his flaw- 
less beams of pure white to us almost as long a 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 243 

journey. Banding the heavens and almost in line 
were our sister and three brothers ; Venus in the 
east as morning star, with Mars and Saturn in 
their order, and Jupiter hurrying down the west- 
ern slope lest the sun catch him and blot out his 
glory. Then smaller stars began to steal away and 
were lost in the pearl gray of the coming dawn. 
Soon the same golden rays I had watched fade 
from the waters last night reached out to me from 
the east. "Then God smiled and it was morning; 
matchless and supreme." As late as 9:30 this 
morning I was able to bring Venus down to the 
horizon with the sextant and note the distance she 
had climbed since I saw her at five o'clock. It was 
a wonderful thing to see her doing battle, woman 
like, to hold her own against great odds. 

We crossed the twenty-fourth meridian north 
latitude at noon Sunday, and felt the heat more 
than at any time since leaving Rio, which very 
naturally brought on a disturbance. Today we 
are bucking a head sea, with wireless reports say- 
ing a gale is on its way to meet us. This indi- 
cates another serious delay, for we are making 
but five knots per hour. New Year's eve was cele- 
brated by distributing prizes to the winners of 
games that have been pulled off during the past 
week, and then a progressive bridge party was 
organized to pass the time until the New Year 
came in. When eight bells struck we all stood 
and exchanged greetings, after which a toast was 



244 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

drank to the ones at home. The sky was heavily 
overcast all of New Year's day, with a fitful gale 
coming out from Hatteras, and everyone in the 
dumps, for we see our hopes of getting in Satur- 
day growing beautifully less. But the ship is thor- 
oughly comfortable, although a beam sea is run- 
ning that would make one of the West Coast ships 
turn turtle. We entered the gulf stream at 1 
o'clock this morning, and at eleven o'clock witness- 
ed a strange phenomenon. A cold northeast wind 
was sweeping down from the coast of Greenland, 
and when the cold air hit the face of a high wave it 
would send up a cloud of steam until it had the ap- 
pearance of a fog bank. At noon the sun came 
out and then we looked out over a perfect caul- 
dron. I have crossed the gulf stream countless 
times, but never witnessed this phenomena before. 
At two o'clock this morning I was awakened by 
a warning blast from the ship's whistle, and went 
on deck to find a blizzard whirling about us. It 
did not last long, but gave me a foretaste of what 
is going on in New York ; and Rio will seem very 
alluring about next Saturday. 

There was another diversion this morning that 
we must be thankful did not occur during the bliz- 
zard, else there might be another story to tell. I 
came on deck for a turn before breakfast, and 
noticed a steamer on the starboard bow, but gave 
no special attention. In a few minutes she sud- 
denly changed her course, and if our bridge officer 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 245 

had not reversed our power full-speed she would 
have surely hit us. The whole outfit evidently 
had gone loco, for she executed another wild 
maneuver before clearing the way for us to go on 
our course. Our "Old Man" was on the bridge, 
and the signal he sent across the water by whistle 
has no place in the code, but had he used a mega- 
phone he could not have said, "What the blankety, 
blank, blank, are you trying to do, you blooming 
lobster" any more definitely. The offending craft 
did not reply, but they got the message all right. 
No one appeared on her bridge, and Wilson sug- 
gested the possibility of them losing record of 
time and celebrating New Year's eve last night. 
At least something was wrong, and had it not been 
clear daylight, and our ship under perfect control, 
there would have been a smash that might have 
ended in the "Great Adventure" for some of us. 
The delay of last night and this morning blocks 
all hope of reaching New York before tomorrow 
morning, so our minds are at rest on that score. 
We raised Barnegat light at 7 o'clock this evening, 
and home seems very near. It has been a long 
journey, full of incident, some danger, much phys- 
ical discomfort and actual suffering, but all the 
distress is forgotten in the memory of friends 
met; scenes recorded on the tablets of memory for 
future use, and a knowledge of South America not 
to be gotten in any other way. 



246 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

A WORD OF CAUTION. 

CHAPTER XX. 

The patient reader will now want to know some- 
thing of my impressions as to the business pros- 
pects in South America and what our chances are 
to get and hold this trade when European coun- 
tries and Japan get on a producing basis once more. 
Competition will then become keen, and we must 
prepare to meet it by first sending men into this 
country fitted for the work. A knowledge of the 
language is essential, but it is far more important 
to select men temperamentally adapted to these 
people. They resent many of our natural traits, 
and these should have the soft pedal down there. 
As a rule the South American is low-voiced and 
his conversation in dining rooms and public places 
is not pitched crescendo. Neither does he speak of 
his best friend as a liar or boob or worse in ordi- 
nary conversation. Not that he cannot swear 
when the occasion demands it. Let there be an 
offense, real or fancied, and the Spaniard or Portu- 
gese will cause milk to curdle in the adjoining 
county, but swearing is not adapted to friendly 
discourse and polite society as it is with us. An 
incident in the dining room of one of the hotels 
in Lima illustrates what I mean. A salesman 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 247 

representing one of our large business houses, 
came in with two companions and occupied the 
table adjoining mine. After giving his order for 
a whiskey and soda he turned to his companion 
and said, "Did you ever get mixed up with such a 
bunch of damn liars in your life as they are in 
this burg?" He then elaborated his opinion of 
South Americans in general and the people of that 
town in particular, and all this delectable tirade 
was given in a tone loud enough to be heard and 
understood by forty or fifty people in the dining 
room. Incalculable harm was done American in- 
terests, for we may rest assured nothing was lost 
in the retelling of this incident. This would be 
specially true if the story was retold by some rep- 
resentative frcm Europe or Japan when discuss- 
ing us as competitors. 

Now this unfortunate thing was not the result 
of any real feeling toward the people of that town, 
neither did it actually extend to the individual 
whom he specially referred to, but he had per- 
haps lost a wad in a poker game the night before, 
and no doubt his prospective customer had drop- 
ped some coin in the same game and had failed to 
keep promised engagement , or have the order 
ready. Our friend turned loose a line of talk so 
common with us that it makes no impression, and 
half the time is not even heard; but people in 
South America note every act and expression of 
our people when we are amongst them, and it be- 



248 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

hooves us to speak and act circumspectly. When 
a citizen of Lima calls our attention to their beau- 
tiful cathedral, it is not good taste to look at it 
with lack-lustre eyes and say, "Oh yes, but you 
should see St. John the Divine on Morningside 
Heights." Neither does it get us anywhere in 
their good graces when we loudly condemn their 
hotels, railroads and steamship lines. Of course, 
we claim constructive criticism ; but it is doubtful 
if anything is accomplished by this, except a with- 
drawal of their favor. These people know full 
well they do not have a Woolworth Building or 
an Edgar Thompson Steel Works. They do not 
have to be told our nation overshadows them in 
art, science and industry. They know it, and our 
boastful comparisons are more than odious. The 
Englishman, German and Japanese have learned 
this lesson, and when their attention is called to 
an opera house, art gallery or race track they pro- 
ceed to register admiration both in words and 
facial expression, and the friendly compact is seal- 
ed right there. 

Our style of "You call me Bill" after the second 
meeting is another thing resented, and even in the 
Rotary Club where good-fellowship is carried to 
the Nth degree, it is Don Juany, Don Pedro, but 
never Jack or Pete as it would be in one of our 
clubs. Now if Rotary cannot break down this in- 
herent reserve, it is extremely dangerous to make 
the attempt with a prospective customer. One of 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 249 

the really difficult things for us to adjust ourselves 
to is the "Manana," and more often "Manana por 
la manana," and this frets us because we are ac- 
customed to do business swiftly, and cannot un- 
derstand why they should wait until tomorrow or 
the day after. But it is their way of doing busi- 
ness, and we must not lose patience and call 
them boobs and other American pet names. 

The business situation was very much muddled 
on the west coast when I was there, and much bit- 
ter feeling seemed inevitable because of the vast 
amount of merchandise piled in the several ports 
that had been refused by the consignee. This 
was brought about by duplication of orders dur- 
ing the war, in hopes that at least one consign- 
ment would get through. When the armis- 
tice was signed all back orders were shipped, and 
Mollendo had enough merchandise of various lines 
consigned to Bolivia to last that country five years, 
and someone is sure to be badly stung before the 
matter is straightened out. Another trouble- 
some thing for our shippers is the matter of ex- 
change, and conditions are specially distressing in 
Chili, but surely this evil will soon be corrected, 
for it is a serious drawback to the prosperity of 
that country. A few bankers coin money through 
the scheme, but "Jones pays the freight." Cur- 
rency in Peru, Argentine and Uraguay is absolute- 
ly staple, and it was fairly so in Brazil, but ex- 
change ran wild during my stay in Rio ; the 



250 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

American dollar ranging down from 3$900 to 
3$200 in ten days. This bit of high finance cost me 
over $100.00, and if it fretted me, which it did, how 
about the chap or the business concern who stood 
a loss of thousands? Many protests are sounded 
regarding our careless packing, and with good rea- 
son. One merchant in Sao Paulo told me of an 
order sent to the States for ten reels of barbed 
wire. He specifically stated that each reel should 
contain one length, but when his customer un- 
wound them, one contained six pieces and one 
twenty pieces. Three pieces to the reel was the 
nearest to the specification. This man was mad 
all through. Another merchant in Rio ordered, 
several thousand dollars' worth of white silk and 
satin dress goods. He w T ent into minute details as 
to how the bolts should be wrapped and packed, 
but instead of coming through in water-proof pa- 
per covering, and in heavy packing cases they 
were shipped with fancy paper wrapping inflimsy 
cases. One of the downpours of rain so frequent 
in Rio came on when this merchandise was being 
hoisted into the lighter, and the merchant got a 
lot of material well suited for a circus clown's 
outfit, but not just right for wedding dresses, and 
he was peevish. There is one more case worth 
citing*. A contractor in Buenos Aires was build- 
ing a plant up on the "Roof" above Mendosa, for 
which he required certain electric equipment. The 
standard machine weighed eight hundred pounds, 



AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 251 

so he had his engineer re-design it so that no part 
would weigh over one hundred and twelve pounds. 
The specification and reason for this specification 
was made in red ink, explaining that parts must 
be transported up the mountain on llamas and as- 
sembled at the plant, and these beasts could not 
negotiate any heavier burden. The new design 
had been faithfully followed, but they were dumped 
on the dock intact. Every bolt and rivet tight and 
fast, and I am told the customs house looked up 
the tariff on sulphur when the contractor got well 
started on his remarks. It is to be hoped these 
incidents will tend to caution our business men and 
help them avoid such errors as noted. Let them 
keep in mind that a shipment of silk from New 
York to Rio de Janeiro is not so easily adjusted 
if something goes wrong, as it would be if con- 
signed to Hoboken. When the merchant or dealer 
runs the gamut of a South American customs 
house and gets his goods in warehouse only to find 
them damaged or unsalable, he is going to close 
that account at once, and mark it up in the column 
of losses, for he would never succeed in getting 
an adjustment. To our way of thinking the South 
Americans were very much pampered prior to the 
war. Every minute whim was accepted as an obli- 
gation by the European manufacturer or jobber, 
and if this whim had not already been made stand- 
ard a courteous letter went forward saying, "We 
do not have this particular style in stock but will 



252 AROUND SOUTH AMERICA WITH A SAMPLE CASE 

make it up at once, and ship in the near future." 
But from us they would get the next best thing, 
followed by a letter of astonishment if they made 
a protest. However, our consular agents, Ameri- 
can chambers of commerce and the banking or- 
ganizations recently established are doing fine 
work in holding our manufacturers up to stand- 
ard, and they speak as one having authority. An- 
other powerful factor for good clean business re- 
lations is the prospective establishment of Rotary 
clubs in every business center of importance. Clubs 
have been organized in Montevideo and Buenos 
Aires, with Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, Sao 
Paulo and Santiago de Chili as live possibilties. 
When this is done and we carry the banner of 
"service, not self" to these people, and prove by 
our business methods that we are sincere in our 
profession there will be created a new and happy 
era for "The Americas." 

FINIS. 



